[ΚΕΝΟ]



Lapis lazuli necklace

Υ146
Stone (lapis lazuli)
Good condition, small piece missing from left side of one monkey.
Διαστάσεις_
Knossos
Isopata, Royal Tomb
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan II period.:
1450-1400 BC:
Gallery:
X
Case:
110
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC) - Final Palatial period (1450-1300 BC).The cemeteries
The cemeteries of Knossos
Description
Necklace of semiprecious lapis lazuli beads, drop-shaped, spherical, wheat-grain and simian. One of the last represents a squatting monkey with its right elbow resting on its right knee and its hand touching its right ear, while the other is in the shape of a monkey squatting with legs slightly apart and hands on knees. Monkeys were commonly depicted in funerary jewellery in Egypt, due to afterlife beliefs. This necklace may be a Minoan work with Egyptian influences, although the possibility that the two simian beads were imported from Egypt cannot be ruled out.
Bibliography:
Evans, A.J. Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos. London, 1906, 141, 151-153, figs. 130-131a. Effinger, M. Minoischer Schmuck. BAR IS 646. Oxford, 1996, 49, pl. 6. Banou, Ε. "174. Περιδέραιο". In Karetsou, A. M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki and N. Papadakis (eds), Κρήτη-Αίγυπτος. Πολιτισμικοί δεσμοί τριών χιλιετιών, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ηρακλείου, 21 Νοεμβρίου 1999-21 Σεπτεμβρίου 2000, Heraklion, 2000, 185-186.
Author:
G. F.


Photographs' metadata