- Adriana Emiliozzi –
register only animals are present. The iconography and the style of such ornaments accord
well with the Orientalizing decorative taste of the fi rst half of the seventh century bc,
documented in the decoration of the shields and gold jewelry produced in the workshops
of southern Etruria (cf. Chapters 6 and 50).
The same criterion of application of decoration was employed for the celebrated “biga”
of the Regolini-Galassi Tomb (560–550 bc), recently subjected to a new reconstruction.
Here we are dealing with bronze plates decorated in repoussé, with compositions of
animals and ornamental elements in superimposed registers, worked in separate pieces
and applied to the leather in a pattern to create the desired sequence. The decoration
of the chariot from the Tomb of the Bronze Chariot at Vulci (700–675 bc) was also
produced using similar devices, although they are less obvious. The bronze sheet that
covers the front panel, decorated in repoussé with the use of punches, is worked in two
halves and applied to the leather beneath, which in turn is affi xed to the wood of the
frame and the railings (Figs 41.8 and 41.9).
From the second quarter of the sixth century bc on, with the decline of the aristocracies
of the Etruscan cities, the custom of burying in the tombs the vehicles used in life as a
Figure 41.6 The fast chariot from Populonia, Tumulo dei Carri, 1:1 model
(project by A. Emiliozzi, drawing by G. Corsi, model by C. Usai).Figure 41.7 The fast chariot from Populonia, Tumulo dei Carri. Reconstruction drawing of the metal
decoration of the front panel (project by A. Emiliozzi, drawing by G. Corsi).