The exhibit
Knossos, Palace. 1650 - 1550 BC
Despite its fragmentary state of preservation, this impressive depiction of a charging bull is a crowning example of Minoan naturalistic art. The relief technique is used to render the bull’s head and the dramatic tension of the scene with extraordinary realism. The lowered head, pricked-forward ears and half-open mouth with lolling tongue vividly express the animal’s desperation to escape its pursuers, as it appears that the subject of the larger scene was a bull hunt. Other relief fragments from the same composition depict parts of the bodies of two bulls, limbs of two human figures, one male and one female, olive trees and a rocky landscape. The fresco adorned the wall of the portico believed to have surmounted the West Porch of the North Entrance to the palace of Knossos. The bull, a symbol of strength and fertility, was one of the most popular subjects of the iconography of the Palace of Knossos during the Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods.