Varga Edith szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 79. (Budapest, 1993)

NIELSEN, MARJATTA: An Etruscan country woman from Terriccio

left arm is typical of mid-third century BC lid figures in Volterra and its territory, although the unorganic structure is here more marked than usual.

21 The right hand possibly held a pomegranate or nothing at all

—the most common alternatives for female lid figures in this period. Furthermore, the plain, four-legged, slightly trapezoid urn without any decoration is quite common in Volterran urn production during most of the third century BC. I have not had occasion to look systematically inside such urns, but this cavity with a combination of both curved and vertical sides appears to be rather rare. A similar example with which I am familiar is a late third-century alabaster urn from San Martino ai Colli in the Val d'Eisa.

22 Most of the third-century BC cinerary urns in the Volterran region are, however, sculpted in tufa, a coarser material (76%). Alabaster, which later became the dominant material, was only occasionally used (14%), and not necessarily with the virtuosity which this ductile material permitted (the same also applied to terracotta, 10%). In Terriccio alabaster was perhaps the most obvious choice, since the alabaster quarries of Castellina Marittima lay only a few kilometers away.

23 But in this instance there was no skilled sculptor but rather a quarry-worker to execute the task. At the back and the corners the original roughly hewn surface of the block has not been smoothed out, and elsewhere many tool marks testify to inadequate equipment and skill. In smoother surfaces the traces of a curve-edged chisel have been left visible. Saw and file have also been used in places where a chisel might have been more appropriate. It seems that from the beginning of the production of lid-figured urns in the Volterran region from about 300 and throughout the third century BC, there weer great difficulties in attaining an adequate level of workmanship. Obviously stonecutters had little artistic schooling, and their efforts were concentrated on the modelling of the most rudimentary human forms

—often it is even difficult to judge whether a man or woman is intended. Only occasionally are the cinerary urns better, perhaps because created by itinerant sculptors, whose products may have served as models for the modest local worker.

24 In the third century BC at least 25 % of the cinerary urns of Volterran type come from surrounding territory ; in the second and especially the first century BC most urns originate in Volterra itself.

25 The third-century findings from territorial settlements belong especially to the Elsa Valley (Casole d'Eisa, Monteriggioni, San Martino ai Colli, the San Gimignano area) ; but there are also urns from Grotti beyond 21 For a selection of male and female figures from third century tombs, see e. g. Urne volterrane 1, Firenze 1975, nos. 212-213, 220, 227, 231, 234, 258, 261-263, 265, 267-269, 273-274, 301, 304-307, with references to the excavation publications. 22 Urne volterrane 1, op. cit. no. 294 ; Cianferoni, G. C., in San Martino ai Colli. Un centro rurale etrusco in Val d'Eisa, Firenze 1984, p. 96, no. 135. 23 Cf. note 10. 24 Cf. notes 2 and 3 ; higher level e. g. Urne volterrane 1, op. cit. (n. 21) nos. 239-240, 246, 249, 291, 298 ; Maggiani A., in Artigianato artistico, exh. cat., Volterra-Chiusi, Milano 1985, pp. 36-42, third-century urns, some of which with accompanying grave-goods. 25 10% of the urns come from the territory in the second and less than 1% in the first century BC ; cf. Nielsen, M., in Artigianato artistico, (n. 24) pp. 62-66, and in Die Welt der Etrusker, Koll. (n. 3) pp. 201-217.