Allard Pierson Museum

This article (in Dutch) reviews the current state of research on the rare class of Etruscan impasto cinerary urns with mobile figurines from the Chiusi region (urns of the so-called "Paolozzi" and "Gualandi" Type, 2nd half of the 7th century BCE). Central to the discussion is the case of the "Coleman" burial assemblage. Since 1935, a vase of the above-mentioned type and several other Etruscan artefacts from the former collection of the American industrialist R. H. Coleman (1856-1930), now preserved in the Penn Museum at Philadelpia, have been associated with a Clusine ziro burial excavated in 1881. However, most of the objects of the alleged burial assemblage, including the vase, have proven to be forgeries. Problems also surround the five other complete vases with mobile figurines. Doubts about the authenticity of two of them have been confirmed with thermoluminescence testing, and another vase turned out to be heavily restored, making it impossible to determine its precise condition, iconography and date. As for the remaining two urns, believed to be genuine, one was stolen from the Chiusi Museum in 1971 and the other is in a rather poor condition, as a recently executed restoration has shown.

A body for eternity: an Etruscan canopic urn in Amsterdam.

In 1988 the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam, the Allard Pierson Museum, acquired a jar of burnished brown impasto with a lid featuring a stylized human face (inv. no. APM 11.734). Although there is no information concerning its exact provenance and original find context, it is clear that the vessel belongs to a distinctive group of Etruscan anthropomorphic cinerary urns - so-called "canopic" urns - from the ancient city of Clevsin (modern Chiusi) and its surrounding territory. Such urs were produced in the Middle and Late Orientalizing period (c. 675-580 BCE). The Amsterdam urn, which represents a woman, is of a rare type. Close comparanda include a canopic urn found in an undisturbed "ziro tomb" (no. 21) in the Necropolis of Tolle near Chianciano Terme. The associated grave goods point to a date in the second quarter of the 7th century BCE. This paper (in Dutch) is an adaptation of a more elaborate article on the same subject that will be published soon.

This paper (in Dutch) highlights some aspects of four Etruscan terracotta cinerary urns from the Chiusi region now housed in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam. Central to the discussion is the urn APM 1510, which was recently incorporated into the new Hellenistic gallery at the museum. The small, once brightly painted urn (2nd century BCE) consists of a lidded rectangular receptacle adorned in relief with a representation of the fratricidal duel between Eteocles and Polynices. Flanking the scene are two winged Vanths holding flaming torches. The deceased, represented as a young man wrapped in a mantle, is shown lying on the lid, which is shaped like a matress. Whether the lid originally belonged with the container remains uncertain. The inscription attests that the urn belonged to Arnth Carpnate, son of a woman named Cainei. Both nomina gentilicia are well represented in inscriptions from the Chiusi region.