• Stone anthropomorphic vessel in the shape of a pregnant woman



Stone anthropomorphic vessel in the shape of a pregnant woman
Stone anthropomorphic vessel in the shape of a pregnant woman

Stone anthropomorphic vessel in the shape of a pregnant woman

Λ2171
Stone (Alabaster)
Most of the handle incomplete, restored on large part of the neck and rim.
Height: 13.6 cm.
Katsambas
Late Bronze Age (Egypt: 18th Dynasty):
16ος-14ος c. BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
50
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Trade and foreign contacts. Minoan Thalassocracy. International commerce and cultural influences
Description
Stone vase in the form of a pregnant woman. The vessel has a cylindrical body, a high neck with three relief collars, and a vertical handle on the back. The female figure is rendered in low relief, while the details of the face and hands are marked by shallow incisions. Features indicating advanced pregnancy are stressed. The face is oval, the hair lacks details, the body is swollen and the breasts are flat and triangular. The legs are folded and the arms rest on the belly, indicating the coming childbirth. The vase belongs to a well-known Egyptian type depicting standing or kneeling women in an advanced state of pregnancy, which may have contained unguents. As the hole opened in the base shows, after being brought to Crete the vase was transformed into a rhyton, following the usual Minoan practice of making ritual libation vessels.
Bibliography:
Evans, Α.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. London, 1921-35. Vol. II, 255-258. Warren, P. Minoan Stone Vases. Cambridge, 1969, 113. Karetsou, A., M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki, and N. Papadakis (eds). Κρήτη - Αίγυπτος. Πολιτισμικοί δεσμοί τριών χιλιετιών. Κατάλογος Έκθεσης. Heraklion, 2000 (Greek edition)/ Herakleion and Cairo, 2001 (English edition), 262.
Author:
D. M.


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