Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Clay chest larnax with painted decoration [Π33415]

Clay chest larnax with painted decoration

Π33415

Clay

Incomplete and restored on large parts of the chest. Only a few pieces of the lid are preserved.

Length: 103 cm. Width: 50 cm. Height: 66 cm.

Knossos

North Cemetery

Late Bronze Age. Postpalatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙΑ2 period.:

1350-1300 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

Clay chest larnax. It bears rich painted decoration, consisting both of geometric motifs (spirals, bands, etc.) and of figurative scenes. On the first narrow side is a tree, while on the second is a very poorly preserved, indistinct figure with a shield and spear or staff. The main scene unfolds in the two panels on one long side, depicting two female figures in long skirts. The figure on the left, a priestess or a worshipper, raises her hands to her forehead in a gesture of adoration towards the figure on the right. The latter is a goddess, as the bird flying close to her indicates. The goddess is portrayed with upraised arms, a formal gesture often used in Minoan iconography to depict the goddess. She touches the trunk of a palm tree with her left hand and holds a flower in her raised right hand, a symbolic reference to the blossoming and rebirth of nature, and, by extension, a reminder of rebirth after death.

Bibliography:

Morgan, L. "A minoan larnax from Knossos." Annual of the British School at Athens 82 (1987): 171-200. Watrous, L.V. "The origin and iconography of the Late Minoan painted larnax." Hesperia 90 (1991): 285-307.

Author:

D. M.

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