Funerary Urn of a Man

Inv.: 13894
Date:   125-75 B.C.
Dimensions:  64 cm high x 44 cm long
Materials:  Alabaster (cover) and calcarenite (casket)                                                    

 This funerary urn was placed on a bench inside a chamber tomb.  The tomb belonged to a single family that used it for various generations.  The cover represents the deceased inclined upon a kline (type of bed), clothed in a long tunic and a mantle holding some unidentifiable object in his right hand.  The scene represented in bas-relief shows a journey to Hades on horseback:  a common funeral motif that depicts death as a difficult passage full of the unknown before one reaches a new life.  The work was made in a workshop in Volterra between 125 and 75 B.C.

STATE OF PRESERVATION:

•  There are numerous calcium deposits present on the urn as well as many plaster touch-ups that disfigure the original surface.  On the posterior face, there is an earlier restoration intervention done in plaster that has destroyed the original composition of the object.

RESTORATION PROCESS:

• Cleaning of surface

• Dismantling of casket and reconstruction in its correct shape

• Integration of the entire object

Total Cost: $3,410.00                            

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