Part of inlaid decorative border



Part of inlaid decorative border

Λ584
Stone
Incomplete
Length: 24 cm. Width: 19 cm.
Knossos
Palace
Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Late Minoan Ι period:
1600-1450 BC:
Gallery:
IV
Case:
37
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
The Minoan world. Architecture
Description
Pierced stone border with relief decoration of a rocky seascape, naturalistically rendered with a continuous wavy outline interrupted in three places by circular indentations of varying diameter. The gaps probably contained inlaid sea creatures of different materials. Similar compositions with marine motifs such as octopuses, argonauts, tritons and other seashells, and rocks are particularly popular decorative themes in Minoan iconography, found on clay and stone vessels, and also in frescoes, miniature art and seal-carving, especially in the Neopalatial period. This stone border may have decorated the floor of a luxurious palace apartment. The dark red stone, combined with the inlays of different colours, would have produced a striking aesthetic result, attesting to the highly refined decoration of Minoan interiors.
Bibliography:
For similar seascapes see A. Evans, The Palace of Minos: A comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos, Vol. II, London 1928, 453, 500-512.
Author:
S. M.


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