Amphora, Cinerary Urns and the Banquet of the Blessed Relief, Italy, 1842

This original antique lithograph, colored by hand in soft grays and rose, comes from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image is a group of ancient vessels: a tall gray two handled amphora with a pointed base, two rose colored jars, both with two handles, each inscribed in a right to left script, a cylindrical rose urn inscribed around the rim and decorated with a leafy garland, and a gray stone chest with a sloping lid carrying an inscription. Small lettered measurements stand beside the pieces. The lower image is a carved relief: a figure with a veil reclines on a draped couch beneath swags of garland, a rosette disk at the head of the couch, with an attendant in a cap and short tunic bringing a dish of food at left and another holding a jug and a ladle at right; an inscription runs along the top band.

The top margin is lettered "Tom. IV" at left, "ITALIA" in the center and "Tav. 42" at right. Beside the vessels are the measurements "Altezza once 8½" and "Altezza once 7½" (Height 8½ and 7½ once) and "Lungh.a once 11½" (Length 11½ once). The captions read "Anfora, Urna, Olle Cinerarie" (Amphora, urn, cinerary jars) and "Perpetuo convito de' beati" (The perpetual banquet of the blessed).

The oncia was a traditional Italian unit of length, a twelfth of the local foot or braccio. Cinerary urns and jars held the ashes of the cremated dead, and the image of the deceased reclining at a banquet was a common theme of ancient funerary art in Italy. The Italian section of this volume covers the Etruscans and Romans as well as modern Italy.

The restrained palette makes this plate a quiet choice for a study or a collection of classical antiquities.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.