Recumbent Man from Chiusi

In the field of art and technology, Etruria absorbed diverse influences from other Mediterranean cultures during the seventh and sixth century BC. However, towards the end of the sixth century BC, Ionic Greece and the Greek colonies in Lower Italy proved to be seminal for Etruscan art, as most imports also came from those regions. This is evidenced by the urns and funerary monuments from Chiusi and the surrounding region in the Etruscan inland. They are made of a local highly bituminous limestone ("stinking limestone", "swine stone", pietra fetida) and originated between the end of the sixth to the middle of the fifth century BC. Their typology and iconography is very uniform; the urns are boxes featuring lion feet the panels of which are decorated with figurative relief. Around the middle of the fifth century BC, this type, which is preserved in approximately 270 exemplars, was discontinued and superseded by large, anthropomorphic urns made from the same material. The bodies were hollowed out to contain the ashes, whereas the separately worked and later inserted heads served to seal the cinerary container. In addition to seated women, recumbent men are depicted.