Payment on a large Etruscan Bucchero Cinerary Urn with Lid

This large elegant vessel was specially created as a funerary urn to once hold the ashes of the deceased. Such urns were commonly deposited in chamber tombs that were rock-cut with niches to hold such containers.  As cremation and inhumation were employed at the same time in funerary practices throughout Etruria, cinerary urns were sometimes found in the same tombs as sarcophagi. This fine, thin walled example, of distinctly black burnished ceramic ware, is decorated with raised horizontal double bands below the three-loop handles that are applied to the shoulder as well as a raised single band above the low flaring foot.  The matching lid has a large pointed knob finial and incised concentric rings around the shoulder.    

Dimensions: Height: 14 3/4 inches (37.4 cm), Diameter: 8 1/4 inches (21 cm)

Condition:   Overall the urn is complete and in very good condition.  The base was professionally rejoined, the body is intact and the complete lid has been professionally conserved.     An interesting and rare example that presents exceptionally well.

Provenance:   NJ private collection, acquired in the 1970s thereafter Egon Bernath private collection, NYC.