[ΚΕΝΟ]



Globular rhyton with white running spiral on black ground

Π33310
Clay
Incomplete, mended and restored.
Height: 16 cm. Rim diameter: 4.8/3.1 cm. Pouring hole diameter: 0.6 cm.
Phaistos
Quartiere a Sud del Piazzale I Room XCIII
Middle Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙII period.:
1700-1600 BC:
Gallery:
IV
Case:
41
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Palaces of Phaistos and Malia
Description
Globular rhyta (vessels for decanting and offering liquid goods) are distinguished by the plainness of their typological features. They have no handles, the body is roughly spherical/ovoid, and the pouring hole in the tip is highlighted with a mastoid protrusion. Some rhyta, like this example from Phaistos, have a simple flange around the narrow mouth. The decoration of this rhyton is in keeping with the characteristics of the period, which marked the rise of the New Palaces: simple bands and the main theme, a zone of large retorted spirals on the body, are rendered in white on a dark ground. It is particularly interesting to note the association of the clay globular rhyton type with the ostrich-egg rhyta that appear a little later. The eclectic relationships between these two categories lie not only in the shape but also in the added elements, usually made of valuable materials, which were fitted to the ostrich eggs in order to form the mouth and the pouring hole, and which are morphologically similar to the corresponding parts of the clay rhyta.
Bibliography:
Levi, D. Fest?s e la civilt? minoica I. Incunabula Graeca 60. Roma, 1976, 501, F5218, tav. 218a. Koehl, R.B. Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta. INSTAP Prehistory Monographs 19. Philadelphia, Penn., 2006, 93, no. 149.
Author:
I. N.


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