Instead, these chests are replaced by serried rows of
cinerary urns, offering a very different and renewed sense of the presence of the dead gathered around the high altar.
Last October, Christie's London saw an Etruscan alabaster
cinerary urn from the 1st century BC soar above its estimate of 20,000 [pounds sterling]-30,000 [pounds sterling] to achieve 92,500 [pounds sterling]; in June, $125,000 was realised at Sotheby's New York for an Etruscan head (Fig.