technology
Stone vase is one of the earliest surviving handicrafts in Crete civilization, including the early Minoan period from 2500 BC to 2000 BC. Originated in the Neolithic Age, probably influenced by early Egyptian artists, Crete craftsmen used chisels, hammers, saws and blades to process stones, and sometimes used harder stone tools. These containers are ground with abrasives, such as sand or emery imported from Naxos, Kiklaze Islands. The inside of the container is carved out of copper. Turn the drill bit with a bow, and then use the abrasive again. The drill bit is hollow, so break the remaining stone core and use the second drill bit to finish the work.
Most of the designs are modeled after pottery, and even pottery decorations with octopus and shells are transferred to stone tools.
Minoan craftsmen used various stones, including variegated marble, limestone, gypsum and calcite (alabaster), breccia, basalt, obsidian, crystal, talc (soapstone), schist and serpentine. In addition, the design and materials are usually carefully matched to make the elegant form highlight the natural color change of the stone. Most designs seem to be copied from the shapes of contemporary pottery, and even pottery decorations with octopus and shells have been transferred to stone tools.
Crete produces many fine coarse pottery, including Knossos pottery, Festus pottery, Maria pottery, Mocclos pottery, Palecastro pottery, Teerisuo pottery, Gournilhat pottery and Zakros pottery. In fact, this was the success of Minoan artists, so that ships were even exported to Greek mainland and crossed the Aegean Sea to cyclades and other islands.
Shape and design
Popular shapes include a bowl with a "bird's nest" with a thin bottom, which may be used to store heavy oil and ointment. From 2500 BC to 1500 BC, the whole island of Crete spent 1000 years making tables. A vessel with the same petal shape but simple external lines is called a flower bowl, which is similar in popularity to "bird's nest" and has a long life. The most common material of these containers is dark gray serpentine, but the lid of a famous carved dog is made of green schist.
As artists become more and more confident, other more ambitious and larger containers have been made, such as ritual vases or rhyta, which can take various forms. These are usually covered with gold foil, which was particularly popular in the15th century BC, when the outer surface was decorated with relief scenes again. A typical example is the snake-shaped Emirates Cup, which depicts a young prince wearing Crete costumes, high boots and jewelry collars, holding a scepter and giving orders to one of his captains in a place that looks like a palace. Single-handle cones are very popular, but they can also be made into animal shapes, such as lions, bulls (see below) and even shells, such as triton shells from Malia, which are decorated with relief scenes of demons and marine life.
Stone vases are probably the most common stone shapes in Minos. The tall and elegant Holy Grail is made of horizontal ribs or vertical grooves, sometimes in the shape of four leaves. The other is a vase with two handles, which may imitate a metal container. This form often appears in Minoan murals. Common cylindrical vases, pots with mouths and boxes with lids, as well as some small utensils, have very limited cavities and can only be used as funerary objects for sacrifice.
With the Mycenae taking over the Minoan site in the second half of BC 15, all the sites except Knossos stopped the production of stone tools. The containers made are usually larger and more practical in shape. Even in the early14th century BC, these ships disappeared in Crete.
Outstanding example
Perhaps the most famous example is the snake-shaped bull's head from the small palace in Knossos (about 1600- 1500 BC), which is now in the archaeological museum in heraklion. This animal has gold-plated wooden horns, crystal eyes and white tortoise shell tones, which are perfectly rendered and capture vivid gestures. It was not until 1000 years later that classical Greek sculpture appeared in art. The head is also carved into short curly hair above the forehead and long hair below the cheeks. This corner has been repaired (imitating Mycenae's similar boat), but one of the eyes is original, with black iris and red pupil painted on the back. The eyes are also embedded in the thin red jasper, which produces a congestion effect and makes the bull more real and threatening. The container is injected from the neck and the liquid is poured out from a small hole in the mouth.
Another good example is that rhyton in The Story of the Stone is a snake harvester vase of Hagia Triada in Crete (about 1500- 1450 BC). The relief scene once covered with gold foil and only surviving from the upper part depicts a sowing festival with no less than 27 characters: an old gentleman in a cloak, a singer of rattle or Egyptian origin, a choir and several people, with hoes and bags of corn seeds.
Two excellent crystal examples are the shallow bowl from Mycenae (but attributed to Minocrete in the 6th century BC/Kloc-0), which has an elegant duck head as a handle and may have been used to store cosmetics at first. The second striking crystal container is the kettle of Zakros (about 1450 BC), which may also be used to pour libation liquid in religious ceremonies. It has a single crystal collar and a gold-plated ivory disc, which cleverly hides the connection between the neck and the body. This jar has a handle made of 14 big green beads, which is also crystal and strung on a bronze line. It was found that the ship had broken into hundreds of small pieces, but after careful repair, it once again won people's admiration for Minos' stonemason skills.