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Bowl fragment
Early Aegean, Minoan
Bronze Age, Middle Minoan II Period
about 1800 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Ceramic
Dimensions
1 x 9.5 cm (3/8 x 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Suzanne R. Dworsky
Accession Number59.1112
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionKamares; Rim and base of large open bowl with interior handle. Coarse gray clay coated on the exterior with a fine gray clay (especially on the rim and bottom of base). Black slip and white paint. Flat base, diagonal sides and a square, slightly everted rim with the beginning of an interior handle. A horizontal band of white arrows in larger white circles must have formed a ring just below the rim on the interior of the bowl. Bowls such as this were used for "spinning" wool: the wool rested in the bowl's center and was pulled through the handle. The handles may be on the rim of the vessel or, as in this case, closer to the base of the bowl. Similar bowls are found in XII th Dynasty Egypt, Late Bronze Age Palestine and on Crete from Early Minoan II. cf. Trude Dothan, "Spinning Bowls" IEJ 13 (1963) 97-112, Warren, Myrtos P 701 fig. 91, 153 and 209, pl. 68, Xanthoudides, Mesara 78 #5033 pl. XLII; and Levi, Festos tav. 33, d and f in barbotine.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: Alice Walton Collection; by mid 1950s: Mrs. H. Stuart Hughes Collection (purchased from Louis Joseph); gift to MFA from Mrs. H. Stuart Hughes, May 14, 1959 (accepted as Apparatus); accessioned by MFA as gift of Mrs. Suzanne R. Dworsky, March 25, 1992