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Strainer pyxis with tortoiseshell ripple and ivy leaf decoration

Π2766
Clay
Incomplete, mended and restored.
Height: 29 cm.
Gournia
House F, Room 40
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙB period.:
1500-1450 BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
46
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Settlements of East Crete
Description
The term "strainer pyxis" refers to vessels with a cylindrical or globular body, containing a pierced partition, the strainer, at the point where the body joins the foot. This strainer pyxis from Gournia has a globular body supported on a trumpet-shaped foot and a low flange around the rim for a lid. It is decorated in horizontal zones delimited by bands, with white-on-dark details. On the shoulder is a wide zone with a conglomerate pattern, consisting of circular motifs perhaps representing conglomerate rock. Lower on the body is a zone with a row of double-stemmed ivy leaves. Bands, dots and four stylised leaves under each of the horizontal handles complete the decoration. The most widely accepted theory regarding the function of these vessels is that they were used to dry herbs and aromatic plants such as crocus, which produces saffron, a spice whose medicinal and dyeing properties were known to the Minoan world.
Bibliography:
Boyd-Hawes, H., B.E. Williams, R.B. Seager, E.H. Hall. Gournia, Vasiliki and other prehistoric sites on the isthmus of Hierapetra, Crete. Excavations of the Wells-Houston-Cramp Expeditions, 1901, 1903, 1904. Philadelphia, 1908, pl. IX, 1. Evans, A.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Vol. II,2, London, 1928, 486, fig. 292.
Author:
I. N.


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