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The Harvester's Vase In Ancient Greece

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he Harvester’s Vase, a fascinating 3500 year old stone sculpture from the Aegean Bronze Age was a product of cultural interactions between the Minoans and the outside world. The vase is “unprecedented” in ancient art history due in part to the animated facial features and accurate human anatomy, thanks to the Minoans long history in making art and their mercantile economy. While Mycenaeans and Hellenic Greeks are more well-known and studied, Minoans played a huge in part in laying the foundations of Western art. Discovered in ruins of the Hagia Triada on the island of Crete. The Harvester’s vase was created around 1500 to 1450 BC, the vase is unique in that it is one of the few well preserved artifacts of the Minoan Kamares where they have …show more content…

The Minoans were highly revered for their pottery, the linear patterns showings spirals and shapes. Thanks to the newly introduced potters’ wheel. Minoan Kamares were elegantly decorated. It is important to know who the Minoans are as they are one of first established European cultures. The Minoan culture came to abrupt end an extremely old long time ago, roughly around fifteen lifetimes of the history of the United States, because wood and textiles were literally eaten away through decomposition, very few pieces of Minoan survive today. The Harvester’s Vase is one of the “finest” examples of Minoan pottery along with other notable Minoan works such as the Chieftains Cup and The Boxer Vase The Harvester’s Vase was rediscovered in the ruins of the Hagia Triada, (a Minoan settlement near Knossos) by British Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1902, the Harvester’s Vase, is a beautiful and rare artifact of Minoan culture, the artist is unknown, but it is believed to have been created around 1500 BCE at the apex of Minoan civilization. But this isn’t any old vase, in fact, it is not a vase at all, according the art historian John Forskyse, but a stone sculpture made up of steatite or soapstone, (a metamorphic rock made up talc and magnesium) a very common medium for carving during this …show more content…

But Minoan art borrowed ideas and designs from Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists and Historians have noted that the Harvester’s Vase has some Egyptian influence. Steatite the stone the vase is made of was originally imported from Egypt. While Egyptian ideas didn’t gain major a foothold in Greek art until the 7th century BCE, Minoans did incorporate geometric design patterns and started using ornate and naturalistic settings. One of the singer’s in the harvester’s choir can be seen holding a sistrum or rattle, a musical instrument used by the Egyptians. The gold leaf that originally surrounded the vase was an influence most likely imported from the Syrians who were known for their gold metal

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