Plaque with painted bull-capture scene



Plaque with painted bull-capture scene

Υ37
Glass
Good
Length: 5.7 cm.
Knossos
Palace, "Lustral Basin of the Throne Room"
Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Late Minoan ΙΒ period:
1500 -1450 BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
49
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Miniature art
Description
Rectangular glass plaque with a painted bull-catching scene on the back, depicting a bull being captured with a rope, and a bull-leaper over its body. This is one of the most important attestations to the mastery of miniature art exhibited by the palace workshop. The preserved edges of the plaque show that it was rectangular, probably part of a composite depiction of the same subject (“bull-catching”) formed of similar inlaid plaques. In the miniature painting on the back, we see the front half of a powerful bull against a blue background, its legs indicating a “flying gallop”. Its head is dramatically thrown up and twisted so that one horn is brought down to neck height. The eye and muzzle are rendered with astonishing naturalism, as are the yellowish spots and dappling on its red-brown hide. Traces of the rest of the scene are indicated by the curved line of a rope descending to catch the bull, and by the white-skinned leaper over the bull’s back, with bent knees and traces of the flying black, wavy locks. The rope is a trip snare intended to catch the bull’s legs. Despite the extensively worn paint, which makes the whole scene difficult to interpret, the surviving pieces preserve the brightness of the colours seen through the protective crystal. This is one of the very rare cases in which we have the opportunity to experience the original Minoan brushwork, with the luminosity and hues of the usually faded colours preserved unchanged.
Bibliography:
Evans A., 1930. The Palace of Minos at Knossos, volume III, p. 108 -111, pl. ΧΙΧ, fig. 60, 61. Hood S., 1978. The Arts in Prehistoric Greece (Greek trans. Kardamitsas Editions), 78, fig. 48.
Author:
D. S.


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