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Reproduction of a gaming board

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Eros, God of Love

Eros, God of Love
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Reproduction of a gaming board

Commissioned from Emile Gilliéron 

Period:
Middle Minoan III-Late Minoan IA
Date:
ca. 1750-1525 B.C.
Culture:
Minoan
Medium:
painted plaster
Dimensions:
Overall: 1 7/8 x 40 3/4 x 24 3/8 in. (4.8 x 103.5 x 61.9 cm)
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number:
17.231

This artwork is not on display

  • Description

    Excavated 1901 north of the Loomweight Basement at Knossos.

    The original has inlays of ivory, rock crystal, and glass paste, and was decorated with kyanos blue as well as gold and silver sheetmetal, on a wooden base. Four ivory gaming pieces with engraved bases were found nearby and are associated with it. This is the most complex and best preserved gaming board to survive from Minoan Crete. Although, the details of how the game was played are not known, it may well have had a ritual context. Inlaid gaming boards were also used by neighboring cultures during the Bronze Age, especially in the Ancient Near East.

    Due to the complexity of the original and its use of varied materials only partially preserved, the creation of this cast was one of the most complex executed by the Gillierons for the Metropolitan Museum and was also among the most expensive. It is displayed in the case originally made for it at the Museum.

    The original is in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete.

  • References

    Evans, A.J. 1900. "The Palace of Knossos." The Annual of the British School at Athens 7:79.

    Evans, A.J. 1921. Palace of Minos at Knossos. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan and Co., 472, pl. V.

    Richter, G. M.A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. New York: The Gilliss Press, 37.

    Evans, A.J. 1935. Palace of Minos at Knossos. Vol. 4, pt 2. London: Macmillan and Co., 928, fig. 900.

    Whittaker, H. 2002. "Minoan Board Games: The Function and Meaning of Stones with Depressions (so-Called Kernoi) from Bronze Ages Crete." Aegean Archaeology 6:75, 82-3.

    Hillbom, N. 2005. Minoan Games and Gameboards. Lund: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, 201-65, 275-322.

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    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
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