[ΚΕΝΟ]



Tripartite Shrine Fresco (Grandstand Fresco)

Τ26
Plaster
Fragmentary, joined from fragments, restored.
Height: 54 cm. Width: 124 cm.
Knossos
Palace
Middle-Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΙΒ/Late Minoan ΙA period.:
1600 - 1500 BC:
Gallery:
XIII
Case:
132
Exhibition thematic unit:
Minoan wall paintings
The world of the court
Description
The Tripartite Shrine Fresco (or Grandstand Fresco) is an example of the “miniature” frescoes that developed as a technique alongside the large-scale frescoes during the Neopalatial period, and were used to depict multi-figured scenes. Together with the miniature Sacred Grove and Dance Fresco, it adorned wide bands of the walls of a shrine on the upper storey next to the North Entrance to the Central Court of the Palace. The fresco takes its name from the tripartite building in the centre, crowned with horns of consecration and believed to represent a tripartite shrine similar to that preserved in the West Wing of the palace of Knossos. On either side of the shrine are seated female figures with elaborate garments and hairstyles, in lively conversation. The central scene is framed by pillars and platforms on which other groups of women sit or stand. The scene also includes a large crowd of simply drawn men and women. The purpose of this mass gathering, which scholars believe to be set in the Central Court of the palace, is unclear, but it may have been a religious event attended by prominent members of the court.
Bibliography:
Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. Το Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ηρακλείου. Athens, 2005, 182-183. 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 ΙII. London, 1930, 46-65, pl. XVII. Immerwahr, S.A. Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age. London, 1990, 63-67, 173. Marinatos, N. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image, and Symbol. Columbia, 1993, 58-61.
Author:
E. S.


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