Lid of an Egyptian vessel with cartouche of Pharaoh Khyan



Lid of an Egyptian vessel with cartouche of Pharaoh Khyan

Λ263
Stone (Alabaster)
Mended from three pieces. Restored on parts of the edge.
Diameter: 10.3 cm. Thickness: 1.1 cm.
Knossos
Palace
Late Bronze Age. (Egypt, 15th Dynasty):
17th-16th c.:
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 disc-shaped lid. The under/inner side is flanged to fit the rim of the vessel from which it came, while the upper/outer side is slightly curved and bears in the centre the incised cartouche of Khyan, the first king of the Egyptian Hyksos Dynasty, with the hieroglyphic inscription “The good god Seweserenre, son of Re, Khyan”. The vertical cartouche is framed within an incised double line. Traces of yellowish material indicate that the inscription was probably highlighted with paint. The discovery of an inscribed Egyptian object of documented date in an excavation layer of the palace of Knossos launched a lengthy debate on the matching of Cretan to Egyptian chronology. This imported artefact, the product of an Egyptian workshop of the 15th Dynasty (second half of the 17th c. BC), which was found in the palace of Knossos together with other Egyptian stone objects, is evidence of the close relationships between the Minoan palatial centres and Egypt, and the widespread circulation of prestige items in the East Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age.
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. Vol. I, London, 1921, 418-422, fig. 304b. 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, 82-83. Phillips, J. Aegyptiaca on the Island of Crete in their Chronological Context: A Critical Review. I-II. Vienna, 2008, Vol. II, 97-98. Spier, J., T. Potts, and S.E. Cole (eds). Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2018, 41-42.
Author:
D. M.


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