Minoan Terracotta Bowl with Plant Patterns
Minoan Terracotta Bowl with Plant Patterns
A goblet without handles, whose conical body terminates in a horizontal, small lip. The surface is decorated with five branches or tufts of grass.
2nd millenium B.C.
H: 6.1 cm
Out of stock
Product Description
A goblet without handles, whose conical body terminates in a horizontal, small lip. The surface is decorated with five branches or tufts of grass rising from the ground: the patterns are painted in white on the brick-colored background of the clay.
The term Minoan (in reference to Minos, the legendary Bronze Age king) designates the culture that developed on the island of Crete in the Bronze Age, between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium B.C. Bowls such as our example are among the most typical productions of the phase known as Middle Minoan: they are decorated in the Kamares style (current name of a cave located on this island).
The key features of Minoan pottery (one of the first, in the Greek world, to have been regularly thrown on a fast wheel), are the extremely thin walls (sometimes compared to eggshells), the complex polychrome decoration, the various painted patterns and the rich assortment of shapes. Cups and goblets without handles, certainly intended to be used as drinking vessels, are largely widespread. This is a very special and unique style in the context of the Mediterranean Bronze Age pottery, whose original charm remains intact for the modern eye.
