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Chapter 23 - Artworks in the Round

Figures, Figurines, and Zoomorphic Vases

from Part IV - Aegean Art in the Second Palace Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2022

Jean-Claude Poursat
Translated by
Carl Knappett
Jean-Claude Poursat
Affiliation:
University of Clermont-Ferrand
Carl Knappett
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Was there ever such a thing as Minoan monumental statuary? There is no direct evidence. The terracotta figures from Kea (see below, p. 218), as much as 1.6 m tall, have no real Cretan precursors: the largest Protopalatial figurines, from Petsophas and Sklaverochori, are fragmentary and hardly surpass 70 cm, while the mould for a life-size bronze hand from Phaistos is difficult to interpret (see above, p. 112). Evans believed that the bronze hairlocks from the palace of Knossos formed part of the headdress of a colossal wooden statue; it has since been shown that in fact they most likely belong to rather small wooden figurines (R. Hägg, AA 1983, 543–9). The discovery at Archanes (Anemospilia) of large terracotta feet has nevertheless revived the debate: are these simply votive feet, as known from other examples on Crete and Kea, or should we see them as supports intended to slot into a wooden statue (xoanon) that has since decayed?.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Art and Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age
A History
 , pp. 209 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Further Reading

D’Agata, 1999: D’Agata, A.-L., Statuine minoiche e post-minoiche dai vecchi scavi di Haghia Triada (Creta), Padova.Google Scholar
MacGillivray, 2000: MacGillivray, J., Driessen, J., Sackett, L., The Palaikastro Kouros, a Minoan Chryselephantine Statuette and Its Aegean Bronze Age Context, London.Google Scholar
Pilali-Papasteriou, 1985: Pilali-Papasteriou, A., Die Bronzenen Tierfiguren aus Kreta, Munich.Google Scholar
Rethemiotakis, 2001: Rethemiotakis, G., Minoan Clay Figures and Figurines from the Neopalatial to the Subminoan Period, Athens.Google Scholar
Sapouna-Sakellaraki, 1995: Sapouna-Sakellaraki, E., Die bronzenen Menschenfiguren auf Kreta und in der Ägäis, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Schürmann, 1996: Schürmann, W., Das Heiligtum des Hermes und der Aphrodite in Syme Viannou, II. Die Tierstatuetten aus Metall, Athens.Google Scholar
Verlinden, 1984: Verlinden, C., Les statuettes anthropomorphes crétoises en bronze et en plomb, du iiie millénaire au viie siècle av. J.-C., Providence, RI and Leuven.Google Scholar

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