Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Rhyton with spirals and tortoiseshell ripple [Π8479]

Rhyton with spirals and tortoiseshell ripple

Π8479

Clay

Intact

Height: 14.5 cm. Maximum diameter: 14 cm.

Malia

East Bastion

Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan IA period.:

1600-1500 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

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

This globular vessel is a rhyton, as it has a hole in the rounded base. The decoration, in glossy dark-brown paint, includes particularly popular motifs of early Late Bronze Age vase-painting: a wide zone of running spirals on the shoulder, and tortoiseshell ripple, believed to be a stylised depiction of tortoiseshell, on the lower body. The shape of the vase is reminiscent of the ostrich eggs which were modified into rhyta in the same period, with the addition of the appropriate elements, usually of valuable materials. More specifically, the relief collar around the neck and the rosette ornament around the pouring hole are rendered in different ways in these two similar types of rhyton, highlighting the stylistic interactions between this category of clay rhyton and modified ostrich-egg rhyta.

Bibliography:

Chapoutier, F. and P. Demargne. Fouilles ex?cut?es ? Mallia. Troisi?me rapport. Explorations du palais (1929-35 et 1946-60). ?tudes cr?toises XII. Paris, 1942, 41-2, fig. 18, pl. 48.2. van Effenterre, H. Le palais de Mallia et la cit? minoenne: ?tude de synth?se. Incunabula Graeca 76. Rome, 1980, 42, fig. 56. Koehl, R.B. Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta. INSTAP Prehistory Monographs 19. Philadelphia, Penn., 2006, 98, no. 169.

Author:

I. N.

Photographs' metadata