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PART II: Catalogue of Objects Displayed
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Catalogue of Objects 1. VILLANOVAN BICONICAL URN MS 1598A, B Fig. 5 Bisenzio A (urn): Restored nearly complete from very many fragments; about 3/4 of rim and a few body sherds restored in plaster. Very friable. (Note that older restoration, which had to be retained in some places due to fragility of urn, was incised to match original decoration, while new omits them.) Preserves complete profile. Very coarse impasto, dull, light red core with abundant fine white inclusions; mottled brownish black on surfaces. Traces of white pigment filling incisions . H. 32.7; Diam. base 10.4; est. Diam. rim 17.6 cm; Handle W. 7.7 cm. H. with lid in place 38.5 cm B (bowl): Mended nearly complete from many fragments ; missing one knob from rim. Impasto, heavy but not coarse in texture; some fine mica particles; surfaces grayish black, biscuit reddish tan where it is exposed by breaks. H. 13.2 complete (with handle); H. to rim 8.8; Diam. rim 20.6; Diam. base 8.5 cm White et al. 2002:10 no. 9 9th century BC A: Handmade, biconical urn with flat base, sagging lower body, bulging upper body and broad, flaring rim. Single thick, upturned horizontal handle (round in section) set on shoulder. Incised decoration on upper body drawn by righthanded artist. Decoration of conventional type: on lower body, single row of adapted seated-figures pattern (large, linked V-shapes drawn with triple, parallel grooves) set below five horizontal pairs of impressed concentric circles. On upper body, band of enclosed, double step-meanders framed between two bands of double-grooved borders enclosing diagonal impressions (slanting to left), made with small tube of spiral wire. (Compare actual, more tightly coiled wire tube, 24.) B: Deep, heavy bowl on flat base, with slightly in-turned rim; thick, upturned handle, round in section, rising above rim. On either side of handle, an ear-shaped vertical lug set about palm’s-breadth beyond handle. Incised decoration: around outside of rim, single row of adapted seated figures drawn with triple lines. Interior has finger-indented circle corresponding to outline of base. Incised pattern originally filled with white pigment—traces are preserved near handle. The incised pattern on the bowl corresponds to Hencken’s “complex patterns of two seated figures” (Hencken 1968B: I, 30 fig. 16 no. SS77), common in Villanovan I and II of Tarquinia. For a fine example of the seated figures motif, see 26. Compare the decoration of a heavy urn found at Vulci, Falconi Amorelli 1983:38–39 no. 4. See Hencken 1968B: I, 298–99, for Selciatello Sopra grave 77, fig. 289; the profiles of urn and bowl are more attenuated and presumably slightly later than the Museum’s. Similar decorative patterns have been identified in the urns of Cerveteri (Pohl 1972:303–4 figs. 1: MS 1598A, B 282–84). A more elaborate example from the 9th century Cavalupo necropolis of Vulci shows the bulging profile and similar surface decoration (with the addition of plastic “breasts”), Pallottino et al. 1980:32–33 no. 6. The extremely friable nature of these urns results from the method of their manufacture, since they were hand-modeled and fired in a hearth-like pit at lower temperatures than the wheelmade and kiln-fired vases that replaced them in the course of the later 8th and 7th centuries BC. A close parallel to the shape of both urn and bowl (differently decorated) are the urn and lid supplied by a dealer in Bisenzio to Frothingham for the Field Museum. De Puma (1986:16–18 nos. BZ 1 and 2) noted that the Chicago vases probably came from the San BernardinoPolledrara or Porto Madonna cemeteries of Bisenzio, and this seems likely for the Museum’s pieces also. Citing Delpino, he indicates a date before ca. 800 BC for the urn, representing the earliest Villanovan phase of the Bisenzio cemeteries. The sagging contours of the urn are characteristic of Bisenzio, and similar shapes occur in the Caeretan necropoleis. 2. RAZOR MS 1186 Narce Tomb 42M Intact, although all edges of the blade are extremely chipped. Corroded, with a fine, dark bluish green patina overall. Bronze L. 11.8; Max. Pres. W. 4.0; Diam. of circular handle 2.3; Th. 0.1 to 0.2 cm Luce 1921B:123 no. 58C; Dohan 1942:31, pl. 16 no. 14; Bianco Peroni 1979:98, pl. 49 no. 594 Late 8th century BC Thin razor with large, circular handle, flattened shaft, and tapered...