Minoan pottery Linear B inscribed stirrup jar for saffron oil

An extremely rare large pottery stirrup jar with painted decoration and a Linear B inscription on the back of the shoulder. The upper belly of the vase is painted with wavy lines representing snakes or octopus arms between a series of horizontal bands and the side of the spout is decorated with scrolls. The space on the back of the shoulder betweeen the handles is painted with a group of three signs from the Mycenaean Linear B script, the earliest form of Greek writing.

This type of large and relatively crude stirrup jar was made for the transport and storage of valuable liquids. The central sign on the inscription represents a crocus flower and one may therefore assume that this jar was intended to store saffron oil.

Along with tin, saffron was hugely important to the Minoans as a source of status, trade and wealth. Saffron also played an integral part in Minoan society with crocus flowers and stamens painted on vases and featuring in frescoes depicting daily life such as harvest scenes but also in offering scenes to the gods. Saffron appears to have been intricately linked to women; the harvests were conducted by women, presentation scenes involved offerings to a goddess conducted by a priestess. The first (from left) symbol of the Linear B inscription may represent a woman though it is not entirely clear. The importance of saffron would not have been limited to its flavouring or colouring uses but also its pharmaceutical properties.

These inscribed stirrup jars (often abbreviated in academic literature as ISJs) have been found in Crete and several Mycenaean settlements in mainland Greece but it is thought that this particular type was made in the workshops of the Palace of Knossos. The public record of ISJs is limited to the low hundreds and represents the only other significant corpus of Linear B inscriptions aside from the equally rare Linear B administrative clay tablets found in palaces and temples.

We have been unable to trace another Linear B inscribed stirrup jar being offered for sale on the public art market.

Culture
Crete, Minoan, Late Mycenaean IIIB, c. 1330-1200 BC; probably from the workshops of the Palace of Knossos

Size
28.8 x 19.5 cms

Condition
Repaired from fragments with profesisonal restoration over the break-lines, an area of restoration on the lower body not affecting any significant decoration. Surface wear as seen in the photographs.

Provenance
Ex. private collection, New York, USA, thence with Fortuna Fine Arts, New York, USA and subsequently Arteprimitivo, New York, USA. This vase was checked with the US Department of Homeland Security and the New York District Attorney’s Office prior to export from the US and it has also been checked on the Art Loss Register.