Urn

For other uses, seeUrn (disambiguation).

Anurnis avase,often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footedpedestal.Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or origin. The term is especially often used forfunerary urns,vessels used in burials, either to hold the cremated ashes or asgrave goods,but is used in many other contexts.

Ancient Romanurn made ofalabaster

Large sculpted vases are often called urns, whether placed outdoors, in gardens or as architectural ornaments on buildings, or kept inside. In catering, large vessels for serving tea or coffee are often called "tea-urns", even when they are metal cylinders of purely functional design.

Urns are also acommon referencein thought experiments inprobabilitywherein marbles or balls of different colors are used to represent different results and the urn represents the "container" of the whole set of possible states.

Funerary

Ancient Greek cremation urnc. 850 BC

Funerary urns(also calledcinerary urnsandburial urns) have been used by many civilizations. After death, corpses arecremated,and the ashes are collected and put in an urn. Pottery urns, dating from about 7000 BC, have been found in an earlyJiahusite in China, where a total of 32 burial urns are found,and another early finds are in Laoguantai,Shaanxi.There are about 700 burial urns unearthed over theYangshao(5000–3000 BC) areas and consisting more than 50 varieties of form and shape. The burial urns were used mainly for children, but also sporadically for adults.

TheUrnfield culture(c. 1300 BC– 750 BC), a lateBronze Ageculture of centralEurope,takes its name from its large cemeteries of urn burials. The discovery of aBronze Ageurn burial inNorfolk, England,prompted SirThomas Browneto describe the antiquities found. He expanded his study to survey burial and funerary customs, ancient and current, and published it asHydriotaphia or Urn Burial(1658).

In ancient Greece, cremation was usual, and the ashes were typically placed in a paintedGreek vase.In particular, thelekythos,theshape of vase,was used for holding oil in funerary rituals.Romansplaced the urns in a niche in a collectivetombcalled acolumbarium(literally,dovecote). The interior of a dovecote usually has niches to housedoves.Cremation urns were also commonly used in earlyAnglo SaxonEngland,and in manyPre-Columbian cultures.

In some later European traditions, a king's heart, and sometimes other organs, could be placed in one or more urns upon his death, as happened with KingOtto of Bavariain 1916, and buried in a different place from the body, to symbolize a particular affection for the place by the departed.

In the modernfuneral industry,cremation urns of varying quality, elaborateness, and cost are offered, andurnsare another source of potential profit for an industry concerned that a trend toward cremation might threaten profits from traditional burial ceremonies.Biodegradable urnsare sometimes used for both human and animal burial. They are made fromeco-friendlymaterials such as recycled or handmade paper, salt, cellulose or other natural products that are capable ofdecomposingback into natural elements, and sometimes include a seed intended to grow into a tree at the site of the burial.

Besides the traditional funeral or cremation ashes urns, it may also be possible to keep a part of the ashes of the loved one or beloved pet in keepsake urns or ash jewellery, although this might be banned in some localities as the law of certain countries may prohibit keeping any human remains in a private residence. It is even, in some places, possible to place the ashes of two people in so-called companion urns. Cremation or funeral urns are made from a variety of materials such as wood, nature stone, ceramic, glass, or steel.

TheDerveni Krater,one of very few large Ancient Greek bronze vessels to survive

Figural

Afigural urnis a style of vase or larger container where the basic urn shape, of either a classicamphoraor acruciblestyle, is ornamented with figures. These may be attached to the main body, forming handles or simply extraneous decorations, or may be shown in relief on the body itself.

Trophies, tea and fashion

The Ashes,the prize in the biennialTest cricketcompetition betweenEnglandandAustralia,are contained in aminiature urn.

Urns are a common form ofarchitecturaldetail andgarden ornament.Well-known ornamental urns include theWaterloo Vase.

A tea urn is a heated metal container traditionally used to brewteaor boil water in large quantities in factories, canteens or churches. They are not usually found in domestic use. Like asamovarit has a small tap near the base for extracting either tea or hot water. Unlike anelectric water boiler,tea may be brewed in the vessel itself, although they are equally likely to be used to fill a largeteapot.

A 1720s depiction of a fantasy garden urn; a detail of a larger English painting of aKnight of the Garter

InNeoclassicalfurniture, it was a large wooden vase-like container which was usually set on a pedestal on either side of a side table. This was the characteristic ofAdamdesigns and also ofHepplewhite's work. Sometimes they were "knife urns", where the top lifted off, and cutlery was stored inside. Urns were also used as decorative turnings at the cross points of stretchers in 16th and 17th century furniture designs. The urn and the vase were often set on the central pedestal in a "broken" or "swan's" neck pediment."Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-roomsideboardwere an English innovation for high-styledining roomsof the late 1760s. They went out of fashion in the following decade, in favour of knife boxes that were placed on the sideboard.

See also

• Bridge spouted vessel
• Crematorium
• Pithos
• Viewlogy

External links

• Getty. Art & Architecture Thesaurus.Urns