Abstract:

From the Augustan period vase-shaped urns carved from calcitic alabaster and other coloured stone came into use in wealthy Roman burials across the Western Empire. The “tureen” is the predominant “standardised” type as reflected by the current survival rate of over 63 examples. Stylistic analysis reveals the existence of a basic model with idiosyncratic features: the body occurring in three variants or subtypes (A, B, C); the loop handles carved in one piece with the body with a prevalence of leaf-shaped lower attachments; multiple elements carved separately and then added by means of a tennon/pin and then glued: a convex lid; a piriform-pointed finial and a flared foot. The metrological analysis also reveals a constant thickness of the body’s walls and parts and the application of a system of proportions. The stylistic homogeneity of the contextually dateable examples suggest that the production peaked from the Julio-Claudian to the Flavian periods, whilst showing a fairly coherent workshop tradition particularly in Rome where all three subtypes are attested. However, limited variants within the type may represent the “signature” of a workshop/ artisan working or customization. The making of the tureens involved skilled artisans, tools and techniques that differed from those of other stone containers. The limited number of extant examples and their recurring features, particularly the technical similarities, hints at a possible small-scale luxury serial production.