Ivory mirror handle with relief recumbent sphinx



Ivory mirror handle with relief recumbent sphinx

Ο-Ε172
Bone (Ivory)
Only the handle of the mirror is preserved
Height : 5.8 cm. Width: 5. 2 cm.
Knossos
Zafer Papoura, Tomb 49
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙ-ΙΙΙΑ2 period.:
1450-1375 BC:
Gallery:
X
Case:
110
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC) - Final Palatial period (1450-1300 BC).The cemeteries
The cemeteries of Knossos
Description
Ivory mirror handle with relief sphinx with open wings. It has a pair of small holes for rivets used to attach it to a bronze mirror disc, which has not been preserved. Many ivory handles have been found, their metal discs broken off or recycled, probably in antiquity. The Bronze Age mirrors from Knossos are solid undecorated discs, often deposited in tombs as grave goods. The sphinx on the Knossos handle has a lion’s body to which have been added two wings and a human head, crowned with a diadem with a plume and waving ribbon. The sphinx is a hybrid creature similar to a griffin. This luxury beauty implement shows that the deceased belonged to a high-status group of Knossian palatial society.
Bibliography:
Evans, A.J. The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos, London, 1906, 64, fig. 59. Poursat, J.C. Catalogue des ivoires myc?niens du Mus?e National d'Ath?nes: Essai sur la formation d'un art myc?nien. ?cole fran?aise d'Ath?nes Vol. 230,2, 1977, 19, pl.VIII(7).
Author:
E. T.


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