A Case of Serial Production? Julio-Claudian “tureen” funerary urns in calcitic alabaster and other coloured stone

Abstract

The production and consumption of copious quantities of repetitive material culture are recognised features of Roman culture and society. Undeniably, the replication or serial production of artefacts-namely similar items sharing the same production means 1-is found in many pre-industrial, non-mechanised ancient societies, such as Pharaonic Egypt and Classical Greece. However, it reached its peak in the Roman period. Roman pottery, tiles, coins, glass, bricks, stone sculpture, architectural elements and sarcophagi, but also most paintings, mosaics and reliefs are all classes of 'standardised' objects and artistic productions that can be quite easily categorised and thus aptly lend themselves to the study of the mechanisms of ancient serial production. 2 The latter is synonymous with standardisation, large-scale manufacturing, mass-production, and production-to-stock. 3 These modern terms have been used to explain the making of many ancient repetitive objects, particularly from an economic perspective. However, whilst these modern concepts are useful analytical tools, it is important to appreciate the many differences between ancient and modern serial production. For example, the wider socio-cultural, aesthetic, and contextual implications behind the emergence of serial production often have been overlooked. It is now acknowledged that the demand for standardised objects in Roman society was primarily a socio-cultural phenomenon determined by the adoption of a universal visual language. This was triggered by, amongst other factors, competition, emulation, conspicuous consumption, social changes, and social mobility. 4 These factors, and the now recognised importance of the role of customers in shaping the style and selecting the images of artistic productions, make it apparent that serial production in the Roman world was a more heterogenous phenomenon than anticipated, which was often motivated by much more than purely economic factors. A case in point may be represented by the early Imperial cinerary urns carved in calcitic alabaster and other coloured stones. The sixty-five examples gathered so far are characterised by a double-handled hemispherical body with lid, pear-shaped finial and a short foot. 5 Such a peculiar shape, which I have labelled 'tureen' for its resemblance to a modern soup-bowl, began to appear in élite tombs at the end of the 1 st century BC and reached a standardisation in the Julio-Claudian period (fig. 1). The apparent sameness of these artefacts, together with their repetitive features and typological idiosyncrasies, point to a potential case of serial production. The limited overall output, geographic spread and time span characterise it as a small-scale phenomenon prompted by a boom in demand in a relatively brief period of time. I argue that the tureen production responded to both aesthetic and economic factors.