Ancient Artefact of the Day: A lovely example of an Etruscan funerary brazier, ca. 525 BC, typical of the ceramic products of Caere (modern Cerveteri). #AAOTD
Images: Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (2000.25.A)
Images: Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (2000.25.A)
The decorative frieze around the rim, showing birds, a man chasing a hare into a net, butting goats, and dogs, was achieved by rolling a cylinder impression, repeating the pattern six times around the vessel.
Braziers are a common feature of Etruscan funerary deposits, with the famous example being the Caeretan brazier from the Maroi Tomb III at Cerveteri, which was found containing coals, a bronze poker and eggs.
Image: Figure 18 from the 'Last Supper in Pompeii' publication (2019)
Image: Figure 18 from the 'Last Supper in Pompeii' publication (2019)
Funerary feasting was a major element of the Etruscan deposition of the dead. This should not come as a surprise given the tendency to depict the deceased as at a feast on the cinerary urns.
The presence of eggs in various Etruscan tomb assemblages speaks of the significance of such foods in the funerary feast, perhaps because of the interpretation of the egg as a symbol of new life, perhaps that to be enjoyed by the deceased in the afterlife.
Some of these braziers were particularly ornate, such as this example from the British Museum, decorated with sphinxes around the rim, ca. 575-550 BC.
Image: British Museum (1973,0416.1)
Image: British Museum (1973,0416.1)
For a brief introduction to these artefacts, see:
Caccioli, David A. “The Funerary Function of Villanovan and Etruscan Ceramics in the Detroit Institute of Arts.” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 85, no. 1/4, 2011, pp. 52–61.
jstor.org/stable/23183262
Caccioli, David A. “The Funerary Function of Villanovan and Etruscan Ceramics in the Detroit Institute of Arts.” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 85, no. 1/4, 2011, pp. 52–61.
jstor.org/stable/23183262
