Canopus

Canopus (funerary urn)
Produced in Chiusi
Early 6th century BC
Clay, bone, bronze

Canopus is the name given in the 19th century to a type of Etruscan cinerary urn with anthropomorphic features, recalling Oriental craftsmanship and, in particular, Egyptian vessels with human or animal heads that contained the viscera of the deceased after mummification.

The Canopic urns represented the deceased, whose physical presence was thus symbolically reconstituted after the funeral pyre. This type of funerary urn emerged at the beginning of the 7th century BCE in the aristocratic burials of Chiusi, where it remained in use until around 580 BCE.

The head has a triangular face with strongly marked features: a pronounced brow ridge, almond-shaped eyes made of bone, a narrow nose and lips, and high, modelled cheekbones. The ossuary has a rounded body with two vertical handles, each fitted with a movable forearm holding a spear.