The most intact examples of these titans of the Marine Style were excavated between 1900 and 1904 by Sir Arthur Evans at the Palace of Knossos. Discovered safely lined up inside the deep, stone-cut subterranean storerooms of the west wing, they are prominently exhibited in Room VII and Room VIII of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum , while Evans's personal collection highlights, including an octopus pithos, sit in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Dating precisely to ca 1500–1450 BCE, these colossal storage jars stand at a monumental height of up to 1.5 m. The structural achievement lies in the ancient potter's physical mastery of the medium. Because clay collapses under its own wet weight at this scale, the artisan had to build the thick walls slowly over several weeks, coiling the heavy clay upward section by section, before firing the entire massive structure in specialized, open-air kiln complexes.

The graphic achievement of the painter is nothing short of a revolution in prehistoric perspective. The artist used the vast, curved three-dimensional surface of the vessel to create an underwater narrative. Instead of confining the sea life to stiff horizontal bands, the painter allowed the massive, stylized octopus to stretch its tentacles completely across the ceramic body. The natural bulge of the pot seems to make the creature come alive even more!

Through the contrast between the warm, golden-buff tone of the clay canvas with highly saturated dark red-brown mineral slip, the painter has achieved an incredible visual balance. The octopus silhouette is flanked by delicate sprays of sea coral, rockwork, shells and seaweed, capturing the glorious, weightless energy of the wine-dark Aegean sea.

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 flexible and intelligent creature relates to the psyche, to emotion and to intuition.

The Minoans depicted the octopus on their pottery and in their jewellery, clearly intrigued by this silent, graceful creature, unfurling its tentacles, moving slowly through an element that is itself constantly in motion.

An octopus makes camouflage to protect itself against predators and, if necessary, can detach a limb, which in turn will regenerate. Its ejection of black ink is designed to confuse, delude and deter.

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.