Minoan wing
Minoan Snake Goddess

Minoan Bee Pin
Minoan household pitcher
Minoan fresco from Knossos
Minoan fresco from Knossos
Minoan Snake Goddess circa 1700 B.C.
ceramic -- detail

Archeological Museum, Iraklio

gold Bee pin circa 1500 B.C

Archeological Museum, Iraklio

ceramic pitcher circa 2200 B.C.

Archeological Museum, Iraklio

Knossos fresco circa 1600 B.C.

Archeological Museum, Iraklio

(overly) restored fresco circa 1600 B.C.
from Knossos

Archeological Museum, Iraklio

This piece, not a foot tall, carries an amazing potency. All the elements of goddess worship and the Minoan life are present -- mastery of nature, voluptuousness, fertility, naked beauty, spiritual power and insight. It's no accident that this little sculpture has become a cultural icon. It appeals to an atavistic, shared awareness of imagery that is as lively today as it was when the statue was made four and a half millennia ago.
For a goldsmith, this pin is remarkable primarily for its condition. In the ground nearly 5,000 years, and still bright and with all its tiny little balls intact. The actual piece is less than two inches wide, and although the assembly is fairly primitive, the uniformity of the tiny gold balls and the cleanliness of the soldering is superb.
This is an everyday serving pitcher of great charm and wit. The sworls and decorations, the whimsical spines, all grace a profoundly utilitarian but pleasing shape. I wouldn't be able to pour wine or juice out of it without smiling.
This is the least "modernized" of the reconstructed frescos. It is small, and was found mostly as you see it. About 95% of this fresco owes its beauty to the hand of a Minoan frescoist working in the second millennia B.C. As in the pitcher, we see the love for swirls and waves, detailed trimming on fabrics -- and an appreciation for womanly beauty.
This is the "trademark" Knossos fresco, but only about 5% of the actual image is implicit in the fragments found at the site. The shapes please us, and they should, because they were conceived and executed during the art nouveau period. There is a distinctly Minoan flavor, derived, no doubt, from the immersion of the artist/reconstructor in the Minoan environment (if a few thousand years late) as well as guidance from other, less reinvented frescos, such as the one on the left.

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