G151
Cycladic
Minoan
Mycenaean
#10
Cycladic Minoan Mycenaean #10
Prehistoric & Early Greek II
Main Gallery
Cyclades
Early Cyclades: EBA 3000-2000 BCE
Early Cycladic II - female nude with folded arms, with breast and public triangle. Most common canon: Spedos
lyre shaped head
Incised details
Lack of modeling
Wide range of sizes
/ always right arm under, longer than left
/ always feet connected so doesn’t break?
/ always bend over
/ not always public triangle. Legs 内八 have and 外八 doesn’t have
/ lyre shape, maybe put upside down shove in dirt? Shove in a vase?
Some unusual types:
spear head like chicken - see violin shape
Hands not cross but like 鞠躬行礼
Arms 插兜
Incised clothing like v shape collar
Incised wrinkle on belly
20243192 Violin Shaped
Hollandaise
common of Early Cycladic I
Hourglass suggest seated with cross leg
L202238153
Chalandeiani Type: Pointe, angular shoulder and emphasis on broad upper torso
Arms flipped: right arm on top
Dokathismata Type?
1972118103
rare male figure: breast and carved hair are for female but with male genitalia
1972118102 Kapsala Type?
upturned head is unusual
L199770 Precanonical
471001 Harp
earliest of few known Cycladic musician
marble vase with lug handles
/ handle just like Spedos nose
Early Cycladic II vessel
used to mix paints
/ dip spedos figure in as brush?
20043631 Kernos
Mioan
Crete Bronze Age culture 3000BCE
height 1900
New style 1500, probably in contact with Mycenaean: natural form become stylized and abstract
No fortification, peaceful with neighbors
Destroyed 1450, probably by Mycenaean
Minoan Seals
Seal tradition from near East Egypt but with their own motifs
Hieroglyphic gems: signs not yet deciphered
Seal shapes
Disc
Cushion
Lentoid
Amygdaloid
Minoan double axe
miniature version are votive, motif also appear on seal and pottery, and script. Religious function unknown
1118614 Kalathos
natural leaf form
2631438 Vasiliki Ware
Early Minoan II hallmark
fire unevenly so some area turn black, carbon on surface to create pattern
Mycenaean
Mainland Greek
height 1600-1100 BCE
Some palaces heavily fortified
Linear B clay tablets: early Greek language
Art larger influenced by Minoan: adapt natural and marine motifs but more schematic and less lifelike representation
Mycenaean pottery: new shapes
long stemmed kylix: drinking cup
Mycenaean fresco
hunting, chariots, battle scenes are absent in Minoan
22.15
votive figure, offerings to a deity
psi figure - figure raised arm like psi
36117
figure in phi pose
Bull votive are very common
7451966 Chariot Krater
/ again, four reins on two horses, overlap simplified as almost one horse
745145364537 glass beads
Nuzi beads (type)
Mycenaean specializes in glass beads
all from very similar molds
74511711 figure in chair
figure in psi pose, likely a deity on a throne
07286126 kantharos
one of earliest Greek case form
Geometric
1050-700 BCE early Iron Age, follow demise of Mycenaean
City states, major sanctuary, Panhellenic festival, poetry Iliad Odyssey
Rectilinear patterns
High kiln allows shiny black glaze
MET: Mostly late geometric
1413014 Krater
/ four reins on three horses
5353a
Cauldron: original cooking, became a prestige symbol
Bronze animal figurines common in Geometric
Pierced plinth is typical of late geometric
Human barely represented in this period, animal reduced to essence