• Shell with relief scene of zoomorphic Minoan genii



Shell with relief scene of zoomorphic Minoan genii
Shell with relief scene of zoomorphic Minoan genii

Shell with relief scene of zoomorphic Minoan genii

Ο-Ε60
Triton shell
Incomplete
Length: 7.5 cm. Width: 4.2 cm.
Phaistos
Palace, Propylon 64
Middle Bronze Age. End of Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙ/Middle Minoan ΙΙΙI period.:
1700 BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
49
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Miniature art
Description
Piece of shell with relief decoration of four Minoan genii proceeding to the left. The figures have human bodies and animal heads (bird, wild goat, bovid and dog). They are wearing long, unpleated garments, drawn in at the waist with tasselled belts. Each holds a long staff with curved ends, perhaps a kind of ceremonial insignia, in the right hand, while the left hand is held down at the side. The details are carved and painted blue. The semicircular shape of the shell and the four holes pierced in the corners show that it was attached to a wooden vessel, perhaps a cylindrical pyxis. The material, identified as a triton shell found locally, is a cheap imitation of the much more expensive ivory imported from the East. The object is thought to be imported from Mesopotamia, but according to another theory it may be Minoan-made in imitation of Egyptian prototypes.
Bibliography:
Krzyszkowska, O. “Ivory from Hippopotamus Tusk in the Aegean Bronze Age.” Antiquity 58 (1984): 123-125. Pernier, L. “Scavi della Missione Italiana a Phaestos 1900-1901." Monumenti Antichi 12 (1902): 129-132, pl. VIII, 1. D.G Hogarth, “The Zakro Sealings." Journal of Hellenic Studies 22 (1902): 92, fig. 33. Nilsson, M., The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek Religion. Lund, 1950, 179-80, fig. 179. Lambrou-Phillipson, C. Hellenorientalia. The Near Eastern Presence in the Bronze Age Aegean, ca. 3000-1100 B.C., plus Orientalia. A Catalogue of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Mitannian, Syro-Palestinian, Cypriot and Asia Minor Objects from the Bronze Age Aegean. SIMA Pocket-book 95, G?teborg, 1990, 240-41, pl. 63 no. 158. Karetsou, A., M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki, and N. Papadakis (eds). Κρήτη - Αίγυπτος. Πολιτισμικοί δεσμοί τριών χιλιετιών. Κατάλογος Έκθεσης. Heraklion, 2000, cat. no. 137. Carinci, F. M. “Western Messara and Egypt during the Protopalatial Period: A Minimalist View“. In Karetsou, A., M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki, and N. Papadakis (eds), Κρήτη - Αίγυπτος. Πολιτισμικοί δεσμοί τριών χιλιετιών. Μελέτες, Heraklion, 2000, 35-36, fig. 1 (shell) και 2 (reconstruction on cylindrical pyxis).
Author:
S. M.


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