Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Clay chest larnax with papyri, waterfowl and fish [Π1612]

Clay chest larnax with papyri, waterfowl and fish

Π1612

Clay

Intact. The painted decoration is preserved in good condition.

Length: 86 cm. Width: 42 cm. Height: 103 cm.

Vassilika Anogia

Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial - Postpalatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙΑ2-I period.:

1370-1250 BC:

Gallery:

XII

Case:

Not in case

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). The larnakes. The world of the dead

The larnakes: The world of the dead

Description

Chest larnax with gabled lid and decoration of papyri, waterfowl and fish. One of the earliest larnakes depicting a “Nilotic landscape”, a scene with papyri or palm trees reminiscent of the flora of the Nile. Such scenes are often found in the repertoire of the clay larnakes of the Postpalatial period, and may be a symbolic, condensed depiction of the distant world of the dead across the ocean. The chest-type larnax is an imitation of the corresponding wooden chests of earlier periods, as we see from the details of its construction: the beam of the cover and the panels on the sides.

Bibliography:

Watrous, L.V. "The origin and iconography of the Late Minoan painted larnax." Hesperia 90 (1991): 285-307. Evans, Α.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. I-IV. London, 1921-35. Vol. IV, 338, fig. 281.

Author:

D. M.

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