Detail from the Etruscan Larthia Seianti sarcophagus, About 175-150 AD, From Chiusi, Siena.
Photo taken by Egisto Sani:
The cover of this terracotta sarcophagus depicts Larthia Seianti, a rich lady lived in the South Tuscany near Chiusi. The woman is portrayed lying-down on a kline. She is wearing a sumptuous and colorful clothing, and her figure is adorned by rich jewelry. The left arm is leaning against two colored cushions; her left hand, with the fingers richly decorated by rings, holds a round mirror. Her right hand puts away from the face the cloak covering her head.
A diadem made by flowers, presumably a wreath, embellishes her hair. A necklace decorated with a medallion representing Medusa’s head, is hanging around her neck. Two gold coronation bracelets, armillas, and red earrings in the shape of acorns complete the ornament of Larthia Seianti. (x)
Courtesy & currently located at the Museo Archeologico Etrusco, Florence.
Source: flickr.com
The Interior of the Tomba Margareth, Etruscan tumulus near Blera, Italy.
Photo courtesy & taken by Robin Iversen Rönnlund
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
The Etruscan painted terracotta sarcophagus of Seainti Hanunia Tlesnasa, dates to about 150-130 BCE, from Poggio Cantarello, near Chiusi in Tuscany. The skeleton from the sarcophagus was found to belong to a woman who was about fifty years old at the time of her death.
Courtesy & currently located at the British Museum, London. Photo taken by sailko
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Etruscan Cista Depicting an Assembly of Warriors, 4th century BC, made of bronze.
Artifact statement from the Walters Art Museum:
Cistae were containers used to safeguard precious objects, including mirrors, perfume flasks, and cosmetics. A particular type of cista was made during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC in Praeneste, a site in Latium (the region around Rome) that was heavily influenced by Etruscan culture. The elaborately engraved scenes are thought to imitate famous, but now lost, Greek wall-paintings. The ancient metalworker often pressed a white substance into the engraved lines in order to accentuate the decoration.
The handles commonly take the form of human figures. Many artists in other early Italian cultures similarly incorporated figures of humans in functional objects. A scene of warriors assembled within a large palace or hall is a common decoration on cistae. On the front, at left are two running figures carrying shields; an eagle flies over the left figure. Three helmeted warriors appear to the right. On the back is a seated young man, his armor gathered around him and a horse at ready nearby. A satyr and a maenad with their arms intertwined form the lid’s handle. The vessel’s feet have the four toes of a lion but are shaped like a bird’s claws; each is topped by winged youth.
Courtesy & currently located at the Walters Art Museum, USA
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Ancient Etruscan funerary urn, still with fragments of the original paint preserved, which is rare for the era.
Courtesy & currently located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photo taken by Mary & Jon
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Etruscan Corinthian type helmet with boars. Made of bronze, and dates to the 6th-5th century BC.
Courtesy & currently located at the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas. Photo taken by FA2010
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Pendant with the head of the river god Achelous, Etruscan.
Courtesy & currently located at the Louvre, France:
This gold necklace, from the early 5th century BC, is a splendid example of the imaginative decoration and virtuoso techniques used by Etruscan goldsmiths of the Archaic period. The repoussé pendant, with details in graining and filigree, represents the river god Achelous, identified by his extensive beard and bull-like horns. His image was thought to have protective powers. A masterpiece of the Campana collection, the pendant inspired a number of 19th-century copies.
Photo taken by Bibi Saint-Pol
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Ancient Etruscan fresco of Hades and Persephone leading a procession. Tomb of Orcus II, Tarquinia, Italy.
Photo courtesy & taken by Robin Iversen Rönnlund
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Ancient Etruscan tomb fresco showing a symposium scene.
Courtesy & currently located at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Denmark. Photo taken by Wolfgang Sauber
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Relief from a Funerary Cippus, Etruscan, early 5th century BC, made of limestone.
On this relief from a funerary cippus (monument), a man holding a lyre stands between two dancing women. Such pyramidal monuments are typical of the region around Chiusi and depict the dances that took place during the ritual funerary banquet.
These reliefs evoke the elaborate wall-paintings of dancers found in such celebrated Etruscan tombs as the “Tomb of the Leopards” in Tarquinia and were influenced by contemporary Greek vase-paintings.
Courtesy & currently located at the Walters Art Museum, USA
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Ear-stud decorated with a rosette surrounded by concentric bands. Gold with vitreous glass paste insets, Etruscan artwork, 530–480 BC.
Courtesy & currently located at the British Museum, London. Photo taken by Jastrow
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Wall-painting of the Etruscan Jugglers Tomb in Tarquinia. Ca. 510 B.C.
Photo courtesy Sergey Sosnovskiy
Source: Flickr / sssn09
Ancient Etruscan Cinerary Urn, mid-2nd century BC, terracotta.
Courtesy & currently located at the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA. Photo taken by Daderot
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
The bronze “Chimera of Arezzo” is one of the best known examples of the art of the Etruscans. It was found in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany, in 1553 and was quickly claimed for the collection of the Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I, who placed it publicly in the Palazzo Vecchio, and placed the smaller bronzes from the trove in his own studiolo at Palazzo Pitti, where “the Duke took great pleasure in cleaning them by himself, with some goldsmith’s tools,” Benvenuto Cellini reported in his autobiography. The Chimera is still conserved in Florence, now in the Archaeological Museum. It is approximately 80 cm in height.
In Greek mythology the monstrous Chimera ravaged its homeland, Lycia, until it was slain by Bellerophon. This bronze was at first identified as a lion by its discoverers in Arezzo, for its tail, which would have taken the form of a serpent, is missing. It was soon recognized as representing the chimera of myth and in fact, among smaller bronze pieces and fragments brought to Florence, a section of the tail was soon recovered, according to Giorgio Vasari. The present bronze tail is an 18th-century restoration.
The Chimera was one of a hoard of bronzes that had been carefully buried for safety some time in Antiquity. They were discovered by accident, when trenches were being dug just outside the Porta San Laurentino in the city walls. A bronze replica now stands near the spot.
Inscribed on its right foreleg is an inscription which has been variously read, but most recently is agreed to be TINSCVIL, showing that the bronze was a votive object dedicated to the supreme Etruscan god of day, Tin or Tinia. The original statue is estimated to have been created around 400 BC.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence, commentary by Ugo Bardi
(via collectivehistory)
Ancient Etruscan golden Jewellery
Courtesy & currently located at the Louvre, France. Photo taken by mararie
Source: Flickr / mararie
