Breccia ritual vessel (rhyton)
Λ1365
Stone (Breccia)
Incomplete, restored on the neck and collar
Height: 49 cm. Diameter: 18.5 cm.
Knossos
Palace of Knossos, Room of the Double Axes
Middle- Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΙ-Late Minoan I period.:
1700-1450 BC:
Gallery:
IVCase:
38Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisationThe equipment of the palace and houses of Knossos
Description
Breccia rhyton. Decorated with a relief collar at the base of the neck and wide vertical grooves on the body. These stone vessels are typical of the Neopalatial period, resembling their more common counterparts in clay, and were probably used for ritual libations, offerings of liquids poured out of the hole in the bottom. Stone rhyta have been found in palaces, sometimes in rooms interpreted as shrine treasuries, and also in settlements. Stone vases are certainly among the most difficult vessels to make from a technical viewpoint. They reveal both the skill of the artisans of Minoan Crete and their owners’ desire to invest in and display such masterpieces.Bibliography:
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. Volume ΙΙΙ. New York, 1930 [1964], 346, fig. 230. Warren, P. Minoan Stone Vases. Cambridge, 1969, 87. Dimopoulou, Ν. "Οι τέχνες" In S. Mandalaki and G. Rethemiotakis (eds), Μινωικός κόσμος. Ταξίδι στις απαρχές της Ευρώπης, Heraklion, 2015, 151-197.Author:
G. F.Photographs' metadata