Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART: Etruscan Cinerary Urns with Reclining Figure and Battle Scene

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title: 
Etruscan Cinerary Urns with Reclining Figure and Battle Scene
Image View: 
Urn (approx. 20 in height) with reclining figure of a man; detail one of the fighting figures
Creator: 
unknown (Etruscan artist)
Location: 
repository: Casa Buonarroti (Florence, Tuscany, Italy)
Location Note: 
Via Ghibellina 70
GPS: 
+43.769903+11.263758
Date: 
ca. 2nd century BCE (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Etruscan
Style Period: 
Greco-Etruscan; Hellenistic
Work Type 1: 
cremation urn
Work Type 2: 
relief (sculpture)
Work Type 3: 
figurine
Classification: 
Sculpture and Installations
Material: 
painted terracotta
Technique: 
casting (process); modeling (forming); painting and painting techniques
Subjects: 
death or burial; funerary art; military or war; mythology (Classical); portrait; Vanth
Description: 
Violent deaths were a common theme in Etruscan funerary art. The motif of two warriors dying simultaneously, each at the hands of the other, was a popular image for ash urns, appearing hundreds of times. The fighters may represent Eteocles and Polyneices, the ill-fated sons of Oedipus who killed each other in a battle for the kingship of Thebes, but it is uncertain whether Etruscan artists or viewers would have looked for a specific Greek myth in the image. The top part of the urn would then have a reclining figure representing the deceased man or woman. (Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art [website]; http://www.metmuseum.org)
Collection: 
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier: 
7A3-E-CB-CURN-A03
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.