Single-handled semiglobular cup



Single-handled semiglobular cup

Π2692
Clay
Incomplete, mended and restored
Height: 8.5 cm. Diameter: 12 cm.
Knossos
Palace, Royal Pottery Stores
Middle Bronze Age. Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΑ period:
1800-1750 BC:
Gallery:
III
Case:
31
Exhibition thematic unit:
Middle Bronze Age - Protopalatial period (1900-1700 BC). The First Palaces. The emergence of palatial societies
Palaces of Knossos and Phaistos. Kamares Ware
Description
Semiglobular cup with tall base and strap handle from the palace of Knossos. This is an “eggshell” cup with extremely fine walls, a representative example of vessels decorated in the polychrome Kamares Style. Both the outline of the cup and the pattern of petalled rosettes forming its main decorative theme enhance the whole, while the fineness of the structural features and the dark glossy ground are reminiscent of metal prototypes. The fine Kamares Ware cups and other similarly decorated vessels, mainly tableware, were produced by specialised pottery workshops of the Protopalatial period and used as display vessels at palatial banquets.
Bibliography:
Evans, A.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Vol. I, London, 1921, pl. IIc. MacGillivray, J.A. Knossos: Pottery Groups of the Old Palace Period. BSA Studies 5, London, 1998, 151, no 618, pl. 103.
Author:
I. N.


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