Although the more important sarcophagi of the Etruscans were made of alabaster, tufa, and peperino, a considerable number, principally of small size, were of terracotta. All of these belong to a late stage of Etruscan art. Some few were large enough to receive a body laid at full length. Two large sarcophagi, from a tomb at Vulci, now in the British Museum, may be taken as typical.[2369] The lower part, which held the body, is shaped like a rectangular bin or trough, about three feet high and as many wide. On the covers are recumbent Etruscan women, modelled at full length. One has both its cover and chest divided into two portions, probably because it was found that masses of too large a size failed in the baking. The edges at the point of division are turned up, like flange tiles. These have on their fronts in one case dolphins, in the other branches of trees, incised with a tool in outline. Other sarcophagi of the same dimensions are imitations of the larger ones of stone. Many of the smaller sort, which held the ashes of the dead, are of the same shape, the body being a small rectangular chest, while the cover presents a figure of the deceased in a reclining posture. They generally have in front a composition in relief, freely modelled in the later style of Etruscan art, the subject being often of funeral import: such as the last farewell to the dead; combats of heroes (Plate LIX.), especially that of Eteokles and Polyneikes; a battle in which an unarmed hero is fighting with a ploughshare[2370]; the parting of Admetos and Alkestis in the presence of Death and Charun; and the slaying of the dragon by Kadmos at the fountain of Ares.[2371] Some few have a painted roof. All these were painted in _tempera_ upon a white ground, in bright and vivid tones, producing a gaudy effect. The inscriptions were also traced in paint, and rarely incised. A good and elaborate example of the colouring of terracotta occurs in the recumbent figure on a small sarcophagus in the British Museum (Plate LIX.).[2372] Here the flesh is red, the eyes black, the hair red, the wreath green, and the drapery of the figure is white, with purple and crimson borders; the phiale which the figure holds is yellow (to imitate gilding), and the cushions on which he reclines are red and blue. This system of colouring is maintained to an even greater degree in the relief on the front of the sarcophagus, the subject of which is a combat of five warriors. The background is coloured indigo, and every detail is rendered in colour, except the nude parts, which are covered with a white slip throughout. The pigments employed are red, yellow, black, green, and purple, and the inscription above is painted in brown on white, all the colours being marvellously fresh and well preserved; but the general effect is gaudy, fantastic, and scarcely appropriate. It may also be said in regard to the whole series that the subjects are monotonous and unpleasing, and the compositions crowded to excess.