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Dancer Fresco

Τ34
Plaster
Incomplete, upper torso preserved.
Height: 53 cm. Width: 52 cm.
Knossos
Palace, Queen's Megaron
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙ/ΙΙΙA period.:
1450-1375 BC:
Gallery:
VIII
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion. Palace cult
The epiphany cycle
Description
The fresco was found fallen on the south side of the east lightwell of the Queen’s Megaron. The reconstruction of the fresco on a pillar of the Megaron is Evans’ hypothesis. He identified the female figure as a dancer due to her waving hair. The woman, of whom only the head and torso are preserved, is moving left, with her left hand bent on her breast and the right almost fully extended forwards. She is wearing a tight, short-sleeved bodice and a diaphanous chemise. Despite her flying locks, the woman’s gesture does not support the dancer hypothesis, being typical of processional movement or the display of authority by deities and ruling figures generally. Moreover, this gesture is found in corresponding scenes of Creto-Mycenaean iconography. It appears more plausible that she is a goddess descending from the sky, her flying hair indicating the speed of her descent. From an artistic point of view, her well-drawn face, large almond-shaped eyes and elaborate hairdo with long locks and small curls on the forehead, preserving the clarity of the face, make this female figure one of the most attractive figures in Minoan art.
Bibliography:
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 III. London, 1930, 70-1, 369-71, fig. 40, pl. XXVb. Niemeier, W.D. "The "Priest King" Fresco from Knossos. A New Reconstruction and Interpretation". In E.B. French and K.A. Wardle (eds), Problems in Greek Prehistory. Papers Presented at the Centenary Conference of the British School of Archaeology at Athens. Bristol, 1988, 242-43, fig. 3. Immerwahr, S. Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age, University Park and London, 1990, 92. Kontorli-Papadopoulou, L. Aegean Frescoes of Religious Character. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 117. G?teborg, 1996, 43 nos 15, 89, 94, 99, 152, pl. 26.
Author:
S. M.


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