• Lid of incense burner depicting birds



Lid of incense burner depicting birds
Lid of incense burner depicting birds

Lid of incense burner depicting birds

Π3901
Clay
Incomplete, mended and restored.
Height: 15 cm. Diameter: 18 cm.
Palaikastro
Block Δ. Room of the Ritual Objects
Late Bronze Age. Postpalatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙ B period.:
1300-1200 BC:
Gallery:
XI
Case:
113
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs
Settlements
Description
This cylindrical object with conical top is probably the cover of an incense burner, as we see from assemblages of similar vessels. The body of the incense burner (not pictured) has a flat base, a long handle and straight sides, while the cover with the small handle fits over it, like the lid of the cylindrical pyxis, with the side slot over the handle. The perforations in the conical top provided the necessary ventilation for the burning and dispersal of the incense. The vessel was found in a room identified by the excavators as a storeroom for cult vessels, and it may have been used in cult practices. The painted decoration is in the “Aegean Koine” style of vase-painting of the Late Bronze IIIB period, which has a standardised vocabulary of abstract themes and stylised figures. The main theme on this vessel is an abstract waterbird in a repeated pattern. The spaces between the perforations in the top are filled with sets of painted concentric lozenges in an architectural pattern.
Bibliography:
Bosanquet, R.C. and R.M. Dawkins. The Unpublished Objects from the Palaikastro Excavations: 1902-1906. The British School at Athens. Supplementary Papers 1. London, 1923, 89-90, fig. 72a. Betancourt, P.P. The History of Minoan Pottery. Princeton, 1985, pl. 31Α.
Author:
I. N.


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