Fresco fragment with flower or fan
Τ90Β
Plaster
Mended from many fragments
12Χ23 cm.
Tylissos
House E
Middle-Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Middle Minoan ΙΙΙΒ-Late Minoan ΙΑ period:
1650-1500 BC:
Gallery:
XIIICase:
132Exhibition thematic unit:
Minoan wall paintingsThe world of nature
Description
The Fan Fresco was so named by Iosif Hatzidakis, the excavator of the Tylissos Houses, who identified part of it as a large fan of Egyptian type held by a man. To date, however, different views have been expressed on the theme portrayed: a flower, an ornamental emblem or a fan. According to Maria Shaw, it belongs to a distinct scene drawn free-hand. She believes it to be a stylised plant motif from vase-painting: a triple palm tree of the kind which appears on pottery of the Middle Minoan III to Late Minoan IA period. It has also been argued that it represents a stylised papyrus. Although the surface is polished, the outline was partly incised on a red-brown ground. The colours range from grey-white for the light areas and red-brown for the background and other parts of the design. According to Shaw, this relative monochromy is due to damage by burning.Bibliography:
Chatzidakēs, I. (1934). Les villas minoennes de Tylissos. Études Crétoises ΙΙΙ. Shaw, M. C. (1972). The miniature frescoes of Tylissos reconsidered, Archäologischer Anzeiger, 2, 171-188.Author:
K. A.Photographs' metadata