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The Jauriet monument is topped with a statue of a woman in a thin, clinging dress, reaching heavenward with upturned eyes. All of her curves are visible, and this figure is one of the most erotic pieces of funerary art in Chicago.
This is an example of a "surrogate mourner", as described in David Robinson's book Saving Graces. Female figures of this type usually do not represent an actual person, but rather an ideal woman that the man buried here would like to have mourning him.
This particular statue is a stock piece, rather than being custom-made. I have discovered identical monuments in:
- Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis MO
- Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur IL
- Oak Hill Cemetery, Evansville IN