By far the finest example of these terracotta sarcophagi is one found at Cervetri not many years ago, now in the British Museum (Plate LX.).[2373] It is known from the inscription in front to be the last resting-place of a lady named Seianti Thanunia, whose effigy, life-size, adorns the top—a most realistic specimen of Etruscan portrait-sculpture, and in splendid preservation. Within the lower part her skeleton is still preserved, together with a series of silver utensils. A very similar specimen, that of Larthia Seianti, is in the Museum at Florence,[2374] and from the coins found therewith the date of these two may be fixed at about 150 B.C. The figure of the lady was cast in two halves, the joint being below the hips; she is represented as a middle-aged matron, her head veiled in a mantle which she draws aside with her right hand. In her left she holds a mirror in an open case; she wears a _sphendone_ in her hair, and much jewellery. On the right arm are bracelets, and on the left hand six rings, the bezels of which are painted purple to imitate sard-stones; in her ears are pendants painted to imitate amber set in gold. The nude parts are painted flesh-colour, and colouring is freely employed throughout, the cushions being painted in stripes. The dimensions of the sarcophagus itself are 6 ft. by 2 ft. by 1 ft. 4 in.; it has no reliefs on the front, but is ornamented with pilasters, triglyphs, and quatrefoils. For antefixal ornaments, masks, and the decoration of the smaller sarcophagi and other products of ordinary industry, the clay seems to have been invariably made in the form of a mould; but for the larger sarcophagi and the Canopic figures a rough clay model was made by hand and itself baked. Probably both processes were employed concurrently—large statues, for instance, being made in several pieces; in these it will generally be noted that the head and torso are modelled more carefully than the limbs. ------------------------------------------------------ PLATE LX [Illustration: SARCOPHAGUS OF SEIANTI THANUNIA (SECOND CENT. B.C.) (BRIT. MUS.)] ------------------------------------------------------