Hand painted in Greece, this Minoan Octopus vase is a copy of marine style amphora dated to 1400 B.C. exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion in Crete, Greece.
Marine style, an innovation of Cretan pottery, developed around 1400 BC and characterised by the depiction of octopuses and other sea creatures. An octopus had been a popular motif on Minoan pottery where animals were depicted with an extraordinary accuracy that came from a close observation of nature. The Mycenaean approach, however, was – as here – to take naturalistic motifs and abstract them, eventually to the point at which they are almost unrecognisable. Around this creature’s limbs we find sea urchins, coral, and triton shells.
Handmade and hand painted in Greece.
Materials: Clay ceramic
Dimensions: 19 x 11.5cm
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