Minoan Banquet Cup (1) with elegant elongated handle

These luxury banquet cups, dating to ca 1600-1500 BCE were excavated at Knossos in the early 20th century by British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. They are now displayed in the Heraklion Museum.

The defining structural feature of these cups is their exaggerated, high-looping single handle. It arches gracefully way above the actual rim of the cup before looping back down to the body. This clever layout allowed Minoan princes to hold the cup firmly from the top during grand palace banquets, without changing the temperature of the wine with their hands. Apparently!

Both cups have a warm, buff-golden clay slip background with the decoration painted in a rich, dark reddish-brown mineral glaze.

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.