This annotation was created by Emilia Porubcin.
SURROGATES & MODELS
Figurines of gods and goddesses evoked divine beings, bringing them into the human realm to ensure protection both in life and death. Food and drink could sustain the deceased for an eternal afterlife only if it was made of an incorruptible material like ceramic, rather than of perishable flesh or ephemeral liquid. For a person of modest income, such nourishment might be deposited in their burial in (affordable) miniature form, alongside equally miniature furnishings like cups, pitchers, and tables. The power of models extended even to the deceased themselves. Their likenesses—molded in clay, carved in wood, formed in plaster, inscribed in ink—provided a lasting home their soul might revisit and a focus for memorial practices of those that remained.