Chalice with painted and relief decoration



Chalice with painted and relief decoration

Π8959
Clay
Intact, mended and restored.
Height: 25 cm. Base diameter: 8 cm. Rim diameter: 18 cm.
Sklavokambos
Megaron
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙB period.:
1500-1450 BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
45
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Settlements. Central buildings. Villas of Central Crete
Description
Large handleless conical cup, tapering upwards, with a disc base (chalice). Made of yellowish fabric, mended and restored. It bears painted floral decoration, much damaged, of ivy leaves or reeds. There are vertical grooves on the body from the rim to the base, perhaps indicating that this type of vessel is based on metal prototypes, as Evans originally proposed. It was probably used for toasting and drinking, perhaps by several people due to its large size, at symposia of a symbolic nature.
Bibliography:
Marinatos, S. "Τo Μινωικόν Μέγαρον Σκλαβοκάμπου". Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς 1939-1941: 69-96. 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 IV. London, 1928, 98-99. Tyree, L., A. Kanta and D. Sphakianakis "The Neopalatial Chalice: Forms and Function in the Cave of Skoteino". In Ph. P. Betancourt, M. C. Nelson and Hector Williams (eds), Krinoi kai Limenes: Studies in Honor of Joseph and Maria Shaw, Prehistory Monographs 22. Philadelphia, 2007: 277-283.
Author:
P. S.


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