Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

deity. The frontality of the figure is reminiscent of Egyptian and

Near Eastern statuary, but the costume, with its open bodice and

flounced skirt, is distinctly Minoan. If the statuette represents a god-

dess, as seems likely, then it is yet another example of how human

beings fashion their gods in their own image.

PALAIKASTRO YOUTH British excavations at Palaikastro

between 1987 and 1990 yielded fragments of one of the most re-

markable objects ever found on Crete. It is a statuette (FIG. 4-13)

nearly 20 inches tall, fashioned from hippopotamus-tusk ivory, gold,

serpentine, and rock crystal. The figurine is a very early example of

chryselephantine (gold and ivory) sculpture, a technique that the

Greeks would later use for their largest and costliest cult images (FIG.

5-46). The ivory and gold were probably imported from Egypt, the

source also of the pose with left foot advanced (FIG. 3-13), but the

style and iconography are unmistakably Cretan. The work is the cre-

ation of a sculptor of extraordinary ability who delighted in render-

ing minute details of muscles and veins. The Palaikastro youth (his

coiffure, with shaved head save for a central braid, indicates his age)

was displayed alone in a shrine and therefore seems to have been a

god rather than a mortal. Archaeologists found the statuette in scat-

tered and blackened fragments, suggesting fire following an act of

vandalism in the 15th century BCE.

HARVESTERS VASE The finest surviving example of Minoan

relief sculpture is the so-called Harvesters Vase (FIG. 4-14) from Ha-

gia Triada. Only the upper half of the egg-shaped body and neck of

the vessel are preserved. Missing are the lower parts of the harvesters

(or, as some think, sowers) and the ground on which they stand as

well as the gold leaf that originally covered the relief figures. Formu-

laic scenes of sowing and harvesting were staples of Egyptian funer-

ary art (FIG. 3-16), but the Minoan artist shunned static repetition in

favor of a composition that bursts with the energy of its individually

characterized figures. The relief shows a riotous crowd singing and

shouting as they go to or return from the fields. The artist vividly

captured the forward movement and lusty exuberance of the youths.

Minoan Art 89

4-12Snake Goddess,from the palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece,

ca. 1600 bce.Faience, 1 11 – 2 high. Archaeological Museum, Herakleion.

This figurine may represent a priestess, but it is more likely a bare-

breasted goddess. The snakes in her hands and the feline on her head

imply that she has power over the animal world.

4-13Young god(?), from Palaikastro (Crete), Greece, ca. 1500–1475 bce.

Ivory, gold, serpentine, and rock crystal, restored height 1 71 – 2 .Archaeo-

logical Museum, Siteia.

This statuette, probably representing a young god, is a very early

example of chryselephantine (gold and ivory) sculpture, a technique

later used for the largest and costliest Greek cult statues.

1 in. 1 in.