The Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa is the life-size sarcophagus of an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

noblewoman dating from between 150–140 BC. Since 1887, it has been part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's collection.British Museum Collection
/ref>

Discovery

The brightly painted sarcophagus of the Etruscan

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

woman Seianti was discovered in 1886 at Poggio Cantarello near

Chiusi Chiusi ( Etruscan: ''Clevsin''; Umbrian: ''Camars''; Ancient Greek: ''Klysion'', ''Κλύσιον''; Latin: ''Clusium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. History Clusium (''Clevsin'' in Etruscan) was one ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

and was subsequently sold, along with its contents (a skeleton and some grave belongings), to the British Museum. A similar sarcophagus is in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. Known as the Sarcophagus of Larthia Seianti, the two women were probably from the same dynastic family in ancient Chiusi.

Description

The sarcophagus is a masterpiece of Etruscan artwork. The deceased woman's name is inscribed in

along the base of the chest. She must have belonged to one of the richest families of

, as Seianti is dressed sumptuously for the occasion, wearing an ornate gown and cloak, with complicated drapery falling sinuously over her body, and adorned with a

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

, earrings, bracelets and a necklace. Seianti has been depicted as a mature lady, who gestures to adjust her veil, realistically revealing parts of her body in the process. She leans against a pillow and holds a mirror in her other hand, gazing into the distance.

Scientific analysis

Scientific analysis of the bones and teeth that were deposited in the chest indicated that Seianti probably died at about 50–55 years of age. The rather idealised face of the deceased woman depicted on the sarcophagus, which was typical of

Etruscan art Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characte ...

at the time, can be compared with an accurate and less flattering reconstruction of her face in the museum, based on the features of the deceased woman's skull.

Gallery

Image:Sarcofago di Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa dettaglio.jpg, Detail of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa Image:Sarcofago di Larthia Seianti.jpg, Sarcophagus of Larthia Seianti in Florence

Bibliography

*O. Brendel, ''Etruscan Art'', Pelican History of Art (Yale University Press, 1995) *L. Burn, ''The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art'' (British Museum Press, 1991) *E. Macnamara, ''Everyday Life of the Etruscans'' (Barsford/Putnams, 1973) *E. Macnamara, ''The Etruscans'' (London, The British Museum Press, 1990) *J. Prag and R. Neave, ''Making Faces: Using Forensic and Archaeoligical Evidence'' (London, The British Museum Press, 1997) *J. Swaddling and J. Prag (eds), ''Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa. The Story of an Etruscan Noblewoman'' (British Museum Occasional Paper no.100, 2002, 2nd edition 2006, Trustees of the British Museum)

References