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Bull figurine

Π1763
Clay
Restored on the lower legs, tail and most of the horns
Height: 35 cm. (without horns) Length: 37 cm.
Phaistos
Palace
Late Bronze Age. Postpalatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙΒ - Late Minoan IIIC period.:
1300 - 1100 BC:
Gallery:
XI
Case:
125
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs
Communal shrines
Description
Bull figurine, one of the largest and best-preserved examples of the Postpalatial period. It was probably a votive offering to a Postpalatial sanctuary founded on the ruins of the palace of Phaistos. The various parts of the figurine were made separately on a potter’s wheel and joined with pieces of raw clay. Although it has some naturalistic features, the head is more stylised than those of examples of the preceding Palatial period. Although the painted decoration on the body is also stylised, it seems to be intended as an abstract rendering of the animal’s dappled colouring. The figurine probably originally stood on a clay base, as the bull’s legs are too thin to support its body. There was a long tradition of producing wheel-made bull figurines and using them in sanctuaries in Palatial Crete. However, in the Late Minoan III period their numbers at open-air sanctuaries increase significantly.
Bibliography:
Pernier, L. "Scavi della missione italiana a Phaestos: Rapporto preliminare 1990-1901." Monumenti Antichi XII (1902): 5-136. D’Agata, A.L. Le Statuine Minoiche e Post-Minoiche dai Vecchi Scavi di H. Triada (Creta). SAIA Monographie vol. XI, Haghia Triada II. Roma, 1999, 40, 236-237. Kourou, N. and A. Karetsou. "Terracotta Wheelmade Bull Figurines from Central Crete: Types, Fabrics, Technique and Tradition." In R. Laffineur and P. P. Betancourt (eds), TEXNH. Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age. Aegaeum 16. Li?ge, 1997: 107-119. Muhly, P. "The Hand, the Mould, the Wheel and the Bull." Creta Antica 9 (2008): 159-178.
Author:
E. S.


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