mini Minoan Kamares cup

This ultra-luxurious pottery style produced ca 1900–1700 BCE, by elite workshops, is named after the Kamares Cave on Mount Ida in Crete, where the very first fragments were discovered in the late 19th century. revealing an extensive trade network that exported these prestigious wares all the way to Egypt and the Levant.

The Kamares Cave was not discovered by a famous foreign archaeologist, but by local Cretan shepherds! In the late 1880s, local peasants grazing their flocks on the steep slopes of Mount Ida stumbled across the natural cave opening and found ancient, broken pieces of pottery scattered inside. One of the shepherds recognized that these colorful, broken pots were special. In 1890, he carried a handful of his findings down the mountain and handed them over to a local Greek physician and pioneer archaeologist named Chatzidakis, who immediately recognized that this style was entirely unknown to history and published the discovery. This publication caused an explosion of interest worldwide, leading the Italian archaeologist Antonio Taramelli to conduct the very first scientific exploration of the cave in 1894, before the British School at Athens launched full systematic excavations in 1913.

Kamares Ware is celebrated for its revolutionary, wafer-thin "eggshell" walls and striking polychrome designs. Artisans achieved this incredible lightness by spinning high-quality clay on an advanced foot-driven potter’s wheel. Set against a rich, dark metallic black background glaze, the pottery explodes with highly dynamic, fluid patterns painted in vibrant creamy whites, fiery oranges, and deep ochre reds. The motifs are abstract yet organic, featuring swirling spirals, leaping rosettes, and marine life that mimic the high-energy pulse of nature.

The greatest collection of intact Kamares masterpieces—including the legendary Phaistos fruit stands—is housed inside the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete, spread across Rooms III and IV. You can also see many examples of these lovely pieces at the stunning Archaeological Museum of Chania further west.

Flourishing on Bronze Age Crete ca 3000–1100 BCE, the Minoans were a vibrant, colourful and innovative civilization that celebrated the beauty of life, nature's rhythms, and the sea which surrounded them.

Their extraordinary artistic output reflects their love of the natural world. Their sprawling palaces, most famously Knossos, Malia, and Phaistos, were adorned with breathtaking frescoes characterized by fluid lines and vivid colors. Instead of grim battle scenes, these murals depicted graceful leaping bulls, blue monkeys, and delicate saffron crocuses. Their creativity extended to their exquisite pottery, which featured dynamic motifs of octopus and coral wrapping around clay vessels, reflecting a sophisticated society deeply in tune with its environment.

This intimate connection with nature was inextricably linked to their mastery of the sea. Developing a formidable thalassocracy, the Minoans dominated the Aegean as unparalleled seafarers. Their advanced sailing vessels, elegantly depicted in frescoes at Akrotiri on Santorini/Thera, carried olive oil and fine ceramics across lucrative trade networks across the Mediterranean world, returning with exotic ivory and gold.

This pottery collection is produced in Greece in the workshop of the Lioulias family, with whom It's All Greek is privileged and proud to have been working since 2004. They also produce our lovely Minoan pottery and fresco pieces, and a small collection of bronzes.