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Camp-Stool Fresco (Libation Fresco)

Τ28
Plaster
Very few fragments preserved. Largely restored. Various proposals have been made for its reconstruction. The current reconstruction displayed in the Museum was made by Nikolaos Platon.
Knossos
Palace. Found on the outer west wall of the palace, between Magazines ΧΙΙΙ and ΧΙV. Comes from a shrine on the first floor.
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙA period.:
1400-1350/1300 BC:
Gallery:
XIII
Exhibition thematic unit:
Minoan wall paintings
The world of the court
Description
Ceremonial banqueting scene with seated male figures exchanging chalices. The men are seated on folding stools, whence the name of the fresco. At least two women are also participating in the ceremony, as well as the standing male attendants serving the seated guests. Scholarly opinion varies as to the precise number of participants and whether they are seated or standing. Evans believed that there were two rows of at least twelve people, nine of them seated in facing pairs and two standing. He identified a fragment of a seated female figure as an enthroned goddess observing the scene. Nikolaos Platon, on the contrary, reconstructed the composition with an equal number of seated and standing figures, eliminating the facing pairs of Evans’ proposal and the enthroned goddess, and increasing the number of participants to fourteen. Lastly, Cameron adopted Evans’ original proposal but reconstructed the two female figures as standing and overseeing events, since they are depicted on a larger scale than the seated men. One of the women is the famous “Parisienne”, who owes her name to her elegance and her air of coquetry. The sacral knot at her back indicates priestly rank and marks the banquet as a ceremonial event. This hypothesis is also supported by the ankle-length robes with diagonal bands worn by the male figures, garments believed to be of Syrian inspiration. Indeed, the banqueting scene as a whole is thought to be based on Eastern models, although similar scenes of libations being offered to a seated deity are not absent from Minoan iconography.
Bibliography:
Evans, A. 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, 1935, 379-96, fig. 318, 319, 323-325, pl. ΧΧΧΙ (reconstruction with pairs of seated men). Platon, Ν. "Συμβολή εις την σπουδήν της μινωικής τοιχογραφίας", Κρητικά Χρονικά 13 (1959): 319-45 (reconstruction with equal number of seated and standing figures). Cameron, M.A.S. "An addition to "la Parisienne", Κρητικά Χρονικά 18 (1964): 38-53 (reconstruction with pairs of seated men - standing women with sacral knots). Marinatos, Ν. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image and Symbol, Columbia, 1993, 54-56, fig. 44-46. Davis, E. "Art and Politics in the Aegean: The Missing Ruler". In P. Rehak (ed.), The Role of the Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean. Proceedings of a Panel Discussion Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, Louisiana, 28 December 1992, Aegaeum 11, Li?ge, 1995, 15, 17, pl. VIIa. Rehak, P. "Seated Figures and the Function of the Mycenaean Megaron". In P. Rehak (ed.), The Role of the Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean. Proceedings of a Panel Discussion Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, Louisiana, 28 December 1992, Aegaeum 11, Li?ge, 1995, 110, 111, 113, pl. ΧΙa. Younger, J.G. "The Iconography of Rulership. A Conspectus". In P. Rehak (ed.), The Role of the Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean. Proceedings of a Panel Discussion Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, Louisiana, 28 December 1992, Aegaeum 11, Li?ge, 1995, 170 no. 111, pl. LXI. Kontorli-Papadopoulou, L. Aegean Frescoes of Religious Character. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 117. G?teborg, 1996, 44 nos 17, 80, 83, 88, 95, 105, 137, 138, 171, pls 28, 29.
Author:
S. M.


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