The art of the Minoan civilization of Bronze Age Crete (2000-1500 BCE) shows animal, sea, and plant life, which was used to decorate murals and A love of pottery also inspired forms in jewelry, stone boats, and sculptures. Minoan artists favored flowing, naturalistic shapes and designs, and Minoan art had a vibrancy not found in the contemporary East. In addition to its aesthetic qualities, Minoan art also provides valuable insights into the religious, civil and funerary practices of one of the earliest cultures of the ancient Mediterranean.
Inspiration
As a seafaring culture, the Minoans had contact with foreign peoples across the Aegean Sea, and influences from the Near East, Babylonia, and Egypt were present in their early art and trade. There is evidence of, inter alia, the exchange of food items such as pottery and oil. and wine in exchange for precious items and materials such as copper from Cyprus and ivory from Egypt. As a result, Minoan artists were constantly exposed to new ideas and materials that they could use in their own unique art.
The Minoans, a seafaring culture, were in contact with foreign peoples throughout the Aegean.
Minoan art was not only functional and decorative but may also have had political purposes, especially walls where rulers were depicted in their religious functions, which enhanced their roles as heads of communities Painting of the palace. It is also important to remember that art was primarily reserved for the ruling elite, who were a minority compared to the rest of the largely peasant population. Thus, expensive works of art became a means of highlighting differences in social and political status for those lucky enough to own them.
Minoan Pottery
Minoan pottery went through different stages of development, starting with the pre-palace style known as Vasiliki, whose surfaces were decorated with mottled red and black, and Barbotine pottery with decorative growths added to the surface. Next up are the colorful Kamares vessels. Possibly originating from the period dating from Phaistos and Palazzo Vecchio (c. 2000 BC - 1700 BC), its introduction was contemporary with the arrival of the pottery wheel in Crete. The unique element of Kamares pottery is the lively red and white designs on a black background. Geometric forms are common, but there are also impressionistic fish and polyps and abstract human figures. Sometimes shells and flowers were also added to the vessel in relief. Common forms are beaked kettles, cups, pyxides (small boxes), chalices and pithoi (very large handmade vases, sometimes over 1.7 m, used for storing food).
The New Palace Period (1600 BC to 1450 BC) saw an evolution in technology, with consequent developments in form and design, including the production of terracotta sarcophagi. Slender vases with tapered bases became common, and new designs emerged, such as stirrup jars with a real opening and second fake vases with two handles. Spirals and lines are now limited to the area around the handle and neck, with plants and sea creatures taking center stage instead. The floral style most often depicts slender branches with leaves and papyrus flowers. Perhaps the most famous example of this style is the Kettle of Phaistos, which is entirely covered with grass ornaments.
Contemporary marine style, meanwhile, is characterized by detailed naturalistic depictions of octopuses, argonauts, starfish, triton shells, sponges, corals, rocks and seaweed. Furthermore, the Minoans took full advantage of the fluidity of these sea creatures to fill and surround the curved surfaces of their pottery. Bull heads, double axes, and sacral joints also frequently appear on pottery.
The New Court style originated in 1450 BC. Possibly influenced by increased contact with the Mycenaean culture of mainland Greece, typical examples are three-handled amphora, squat snowflake vessels, goblets, and ritual vessels with figure-eight handles. The decoration of the vessels was more schematic and stylized than in previous styles, and featured new and unprecedented designs, including birds, warriors, and shields.
Minoan Stone Vessels
In addition to terracotta warriors and horses, the Minoans also made vessels from a variety of stones, laboriously carved with chisels, hammers, saws, drills, and blades Out material. The vessels were finished by grinding with abrasives such as sand or emery imported from Naxos in the Cyclades. Most designs are inspired by contemporary pottery shapes, and even pottery decorations such as maritime styles are transferred to stoneware.
Popular stone shapes include the "bird's nest" tureen, which had a significantly tapered base and was probably used for storing thick oils and ointments. As the artist's confidence grew in others, more ambitious and larger, vessels such as ritual vases or rhymes were produced, which could take many forms and were often covered with gold leaf. Perhaps the most famous example is the serpentine bull's head from the Small Palace of Knossos (c. 1600-1500 BC), now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. With its gilded wooden horns, crystal eyes and white clam shell muzzle, the animal is perfectly rendered, capturing a lifelike pose that would not be matched in art until classical Greek sculpture a thousand years later rival.
The Jumping Ivory Figurine may be the earliest known sculptural attempt to capture free movement in space.
Minoan Sculpture
Figure sculptures are rare finds in Cretan archeology, but enough figurines survive to illustrate Minoan artists Able to capture movement and elegance in three dimensions like no other art form. The early clay figures are less successful but show the costumes of the time, with the men (red) wearing tunics and the women (white) wearing long flowing skirts and cardigan jackets. There are also bronze statues, usually of worshipers, but also of animals, especially cows.
Later works are more complex, the most important of which is an ivory statue of a man leaping in the air (the bull is a separate figure). Hair will be added using bronze thread and gold leaf garments. Dating to 1600-1500 BC, this may be the earliest known sculptural attempt to capture free movement in space. Another representative piece is the striking image of the goddess, waving a snake in each raised hand. The statue is rendered in faience and dates to around 1600 BC. Her *** represents her role as the goddess of fertility, and the snake and cat on her head symbolize her dominance over wild nature. Both figures are in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete.
Minoan Fresco
The Minoans decorated their palaces with true frescoes (buon fresco), i.e., colorful paintings on wet lime plaster without adhesives pigment so that when the paint is absorbed by the plaster, it will set and prevent fading. The fresco section, which is the application of paint, especially in detail, also uses dry plaster throughout the palace, as low reliefs are used in plaster to create a shallow three-dimensional effect. The colors used are black, red, white, yellow, blue and green. There are no surviving examples of shading effects in Minoan frescoes, although interestingly, sometimes the background color changed while the foreground subject remained the same. Although the Egyptians did not use true frescoes, the Minoans adopted some of their color conventions for architectural painting. Men's skin is usually red, women's skin is white, and for metals: gold is yellow, silver is blue, and bronze is red.
Frescoes decorated walls (entirely or above doors and windows or below dadoes), ceilings, wooden beams and sometimes the floors of palace complexes. They began by depicting abstract shapes and geometric designs, then depicted subjects ranging from miniature to surreal dimensions. Scenes of rituals, ceremonies, festivals, rituals and the sport of bullfighting are most popular. Scenes from nature are once again common, especially plants such as lilies, irises, crocuses, roses, and ivy and reeds. In fact, the Minoans were one of the first cultures to paint natural landscapes without any human presence in the scene. Such is their admiration for nature. Animals are also often depicted in their natural habitats, such as monkeys, birds, dolphins, and fish.
Notable examples of Minoan frescoes include two young boxers, young men carrying pulleys in a *** procession, a group of male and female figures jumping over bulls, a large seated lion against a bold red background Eagles, and dolphins and sea urchins swimming on the seabed. These can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and in situ (replicas) at Knossos in Crete.
Minoan Jewelry
Ancient Cretan smelting techniques allowed the extraction of precious metals such as gold, silver, bronze and gilded bronze. Use semi-precious stones such as crystal, carnelian, garnet, lapis lazuli, obsidian, and red, green, and yellow jasper. Amethyst was also popular and was imported from Egypt, where it was no longer popular in jewelry, a fact that illustrates the independence of thought of the Minoans regarding materials and design. Faience, enamel, steatite (soapstone), ivory, shells, glass paste, and blue frit or Egyptian blue (a synthetic intermediate between faience and glass) were also available to Minoan jewelers.
Minoan jewelers possessed a complete repertoire of metalworking techniques (except for enamels) that transformed precious raw materials into an astonishing number of objects and designs. Most pieces are handmade, but items such as rings are often made using three-piece molds and the lost-wax technique. Beads were also sometimes made in this manner, allowing these items to be mass produced.
Gold, the most precious of materials, is struck, carved, embossed, molded and stamped, and sometimes stamped. Other techniques include dot relief, filigree (fine gold threads), inlays, gold leaf coverings and finally granulation, where tiny gold balls are attached to the main piece using a mixture of glue and copper salts, which transform into pure gold when heated Copper, solder the two pieces together.
Jewelry comes in the form of crowns, necklaces, bracelets, beads, pendants, armbands, headbands, clothing accessories, hairpins and hair accessories, chest pieces, chains, rings and earrings. Rings deserve special mention because they were not only decorative items but also served as seals for administration. Most consisted of a slightly convex oval gold bezel set at right angles to a flat hoop, also of gold. The circular bezel is most often engraved with detailed miniature scenes representing hunting, battles, bull-leaping, goddesses, mythical creatures, and flora and fauna. These miniature masterpieces, such as frescoes and pottery decorations, illustrate the Minoan fondness for filling the entire available surface, even if the figure had to be distorted to accommodate it.
Two of the finest pieces of Minoan jewelry are pendants, one showing a pair of bees and the other an image holding a bird.
The former, found in Malia, is the shape of two bees (possibly also wasps or bumblebees), with remarkable detail and realism, holding between them a drop of honey which they are about to deposit into a round granular honeycomb. Above the bee is a spherical filigree cage containing a solid sphere, and below the pendant hang three cut-out discs decorated with filigree and granules. The second pendant, often called the Animal Master Pendant, comes from the island of Aegina, although research suggests it originated in Crete and was most likely plundered during the Mycenaean period. The pendant is made by what appears to be a nature god or priest It consists of a figure holding the neck of a waterfowl or goose in each hand and wearing typical Minoan clothing - a belt, loincloth and frontal sheath. Five discs hang from the bottom of the pendant.
Heritage
Minoan artists greatly influenced the art of other Mediterranean islands, especially Rhodes and the Cyclades, and especially Thera. Minoan artists themselves were employed in Egypt and the Levant to beautify the palaces of the rulers there. The Minoans also heavily influenced the art of the subsequent Mycenaean civilization, which was based on mainland Greece. Mycenaean potters, jewelers, and fresco painters, in particular, copied Minoan techniques, forms, and designs, although they did make sea creatures more abstract, and their art generally included more martial and Hunting Theme.
As for the later Ancient and Classical Hellenic periods, it is difficult to trace the influence of Minoan and Mycenaean art with specific examples. Later Greeks were certainly aware of their ancestors' Aegean heritage. For example, tholos tombs and Mycenaean citadels were never buried. The double axes (or abbreviations depicted in stone and murals) may have combined to give birth to the legend of Theseus and the Labyrinth-dwelling Minotaur so popular in classical Greek mythology. However, the Minoans' lasting legacy is best described here by art historian R. Higgins:
Perhaps the Bronze Age's greatest contribution to classical Greece was something less obvious. But most likely it was inherited: a mentality that could borrow the formal and theological arts of the East and transform them into something natural and pleasant; a divine dissatisfaction that led the Greek to constantly develop and improve his heritage.
(Higgins, 190)