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Silver kantharos

Χ-Α201
Metal (Silver)
Intact
Height: 8 cm. Rim diameter: 10.2 cm. Base diameter: 4 cm.
Gournia
Tomb Ι
Middle Bronze Age. Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΒ - II period.:
1900 - 1700 BC:
Gallery:
II
Case:
20
Exhibition thematic unit:
Middle Bronze Age - Late Prepalatial-Protopalatial period (2200-1700 BC). From small communities to towns
Cemeteries
Description
Unique silver cup (kantharos), one of the very few surviving Minoan vessels made of precious metals. It has a flaring conical body with strongly carinated shoulder, lobed rim and two strap handles. The kantharos is a type of cup that first appears in Crete in the Protopalatial period and is believed to have been inspired by the corresponding metal vessels from Anatolia (the interior of modern Turkey). In Crete, kantharoi made of precious metals were marks of the high social status of their users. However, there were also clay versions of the type, sometimes found together with metal ones, as in the case of the silver kantharos from Gournia, which was found in Tomb 1 with two similar vessels in clay.
Bibliography:
Boyd Hawes, H. Gournia, Vasiliki and other Prehistoric Sites on the Isthmus of Ierapetra, Crete. Philadelphia, 1908, 60, pl. C:1. Cultraro, M. "La Copa del Principe: per una Riconsiderazione del Tipo del Kantharos in Ambito Minoico." Πεπραγμένα του Θ' Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου. Vol. Α3. Heraklion, 2006, 109-129. Weingarten, J. "The Silver Kantharos of Gournia Revisited." In R. B. Koehl (ed.), Studies in Aegean Art and Culture. A New York Bronze Age Colloquium in Memory of Ellen N. Davis, Philadelphia, 2016, 1-10.
Author:
E. S.


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