Minoan and Greek Pottery
The Vase as Theme
This essay is meant to address the different treatment of two works of art from different cultures which deal with the same theme. By comparing differing treatments of the same artistic theme, it is possible to get a glimpse into the mind of the artists whose differences are thus highlighted. For example, if one were to compare the famous Minoan Octopus Stirrup Jar (Heraklion Museum, Crete) with the Metropolitan Museum's Mycenean Terracotta stirrup jar with octopus (ca. 1200-1100), one would see dramatic differences in the level of anatomical accuracy vs. stylization, anamorphization vs. abstraction, and a preference for a utilitarian joie de vivre over an elite sense of design. In such a comparison, the subject of the art would be considered the theme. Yet what if one were not to consider the subject of the art as its theme, but rather consider the medium of the art as its theme? This purpose of this essay is not to compare two octopi pieces -- instead it focuses on the Minoan Octopus Jar and its distant relative, an attic urn known as the Red-Figure Neck-Amphora Attributed to the Hector Painter. In comparing the way that the Minoan Artist and the Hector Painter treated the subject of the vase, one can see dramatically different...
It has two handlers, referred to as stirrups, which jut from either side of the small raised spout where the apple's stem would be, and reconnect quickly to the jug's body. A second spout proceeds from the vase slightly below the first, though rising to the same height. These two spouts assumably make pouring easier and reduce the likelihood of spillage. The jar itself is a creamy off-white with rusty-brown painted figures. Both colors are rich and variegated, perhaps partly through aging.
The vase's main figure is that of a tremendous octopus, whose tentacles wrap almost all the way around the vase. The octopus does not appear to be grasping the vase, however, but rather to be floating within it, albeit seen with a slightly unreal perspective. The tentacles are sinuous and seem to be in frenzied motion. One can make out the individual suckers on the tentacle, as they are done with some accuracy. However, the shape of the octopus remains somewhat cartoonish. No space on the vase is…
