Stone bull's-head rhyton
Λ2713
Stone (Chlorite)
Mended from fragments and restored on most of the left side, the muzzle and the horns, which were probably of gilded wood.
Height: 14.8 cm. (from mouth to top of head) Width: 13.1 cm. (from one ear to the other)
Zakros
Palace
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙI period.:
1500 - 1450 BC:
Gallery:
VIIICase:
88Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion. Palace cultPalace of Zakros. The Treasury of the Shrine
Description
Stone bull’s head rhyton. It is similar to the rhyton from the Little Palace of Knossos. The two are the best-preserved examples of this group of cult vessels. Although one eye of the Zakros rhyton bull was found during the excavation, the inlaid materials forming the inside of the eye have not been preserved, unlike the rhyton from Knossos. This, however, does not prevent us from admiring the masterly modelling of the bull’s head, with the details rendered in relief and with incisions. It was a cult vessel used for making libations, i.e. liquid offerings. The liquid was poured into a hole in the back of the neck and ran out of a hole in the bull’s mouth. Similar clay objects were already in use in the Protopalatial period. Stone bull’s-head rhyta, however, date from the Neopalatial period and are magnificent attestations to the high level of palatial, probably Knossian art on the one hand, and palace cult on the other.Bibliography:
Andreadaki-Vlazaki, M., G. Rethemiotakis and N. Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki (eds). From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C. Catalogue of the Exhibition From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C., Onassis Cultural Center, New York, March 13-September 13, 2008. New York, 2008, 250-251. Platon, Ν. Ζάκρος. Το Νέον Μινωικόν Ανάκτορον. Athens, 1974, 12, 150-151, fig. 95. Warren, P. Minoan Stone Vases. Cambridge, 1969, 89.Author:
E. S.Photographs' metadata