greek-museums:

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Three fragments of a plaster relief fresco representing bull-hunting, or capturing in a rocky landscape with olive trees. Part of a human figure, hunter, or bull-leaper, also belonged to the composition. The main part of the fresco with the bull’s head is a masterpiece of minoan naturalism, a work of high artistic quality and expressive power. The artist captured the intensity of the moment, the anguish of the galloping bull, puffing and struggling with a half-open mouth and dilated eyes to escape its pursuers or even to counter-attack

Knossos, Palace, West Bastion of the North Entrance Passage, Neopalatial Period (1600-1450 B.C)

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Pyramidal porphyry weight of 29 kg with relief octopus and attachment hole.It was probably used for measuring and certifying the corresponding weight of standardized copper ingots. Knossos Palace 1500-1450 B.C

An earlier interpretation was that the weight might have served as an anchor, but it has been dismissed. Here are some copper ingots from the palace of Zakros and the Royal Villa of Hagia Triada dating from the same period. The ingots were imported mainly from Cyprus, in the form of ox-hides facilitating their transport, with a standard weight of 30 kg. Some bear incised signs of Cypriot and Minoan script certifying the transaction.  

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Fragment from a fresco, a man’s hand holding a hair ornament. From a display with a group of similar fragments. Knossos Palace, 1600-1450 B.C

I have to say I was really surprised when I saw the painted reliefs with depictions of humans, and that’s because some the gestures and postures bring to mind gestures and postures from subsequent periods. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to make that connection, since another group of painted reliefs has been likened to the Parthenon reliefs. These fingers holding delicately an ornament bring to mind Hegeso’s stele. Hegeso too holds in her sculpted fingertips a piece of jewelry that would have been most likely painted.

greek-museums:

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Two fresco fragments depicting crocus clumps in a meadow. Two fresco fragments depicting myrtle branches with red stems and green leaves against a white ground. Fresco fragments depicting a reed thicket. The reeds are painted ochre while the rocks in the lower part of the composition is blue-gray in color. Fresco fragment depicting the head of a blue monkey. 

From the  “House of the frescoes ”, Knossos, Neopalatial period (1600-1450 B.C)

(3) Fragment of a fresco depicting the head of a leopard. The eye has a light-blue pupil. From Knossos, Palace, Neopalatial period (1600-1450 B.C)

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Ewer with dense reeds growing from a wavy ground, perhaps indicating a riverine landscape. Work of the Reed Painter, to whom other similarly decorated vases are also attributed.

Phaistos Palace. 1500-1450 B.C

Trivia-ish: The vase decoration was also used as a cover for this edition of Minoan Civilization, by Stylianos Alexiou, one of the old Directors of the Ephorate and the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. Stylianos Alexiou has been a prominent figure in the intellectual life of Greece, with significant contributions particularly in the study and dissemination of Cretan literature, so we will be seeing more of him. Minoan Civilization, a presentation and interpretation of the most significant artifacts retrieved from excavations is considered a classic today. This edition is translated by Cressida Ridley, also a prominent archaeologist.