Fresco fragment with crocuses



Fresco fragment with crocuses

ΑΑ00006
Plaster
Incomplete
Α: 13Χ14 cm. Β: 8Χ8 cm.
Knossos
House of the Frescoes
Middle-Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Middle Minoan ΙΙΙΒ-Late Minoan ΙΑ period:
1650 -1500 BC:
Gallery:
XIII
Case:
144
Exhibition thematic unit:
Minoan wall paintings
The world of nature
Description
Thick fresco fragments with two clusters of crocus plants, with pinkish-red flowers, dark anthers and green leaves, on different levels. The ochre and blue background probably indicates a rocky landscape. The outline at the top shows that fragments come from the upper left corner of a distinct composition. The Crocus Panel, as it is known, belongs to a distinct composition from the House of the Frescoes, a small Neopalatial building excavated by Sir Arthur Evans west of the Palace of Knossos in 1923. The architectural elements of the House of the Frescoes and the excavated testimonies indicate that the building was not only residential but also served an important ceremonial purpose, inextricably linked to the depiction of crocuses.
Bibliography:
Evans, A., The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos, London: Macmillan. II2, 459, fig.27l. A. P Chapin and M. C. Shaw, “The Frescoes from the House of the Frescoes at Knossos: A Reconsideration of their Archaeological Context and a New Reconstruction of the Crocus Panel,” Annual of the British School at Athens 101(2006) 57-88.
Author:
K. A.


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