The Knossos 'Jewel Fresco' Reconsidered

Abstract

The "Jewel Fresco" from Knossos shows a man's thumb and two fingers in relief touching a necklace of yellow beads with pendant beads in the shape of frontal faces. Conventionally, the fresco is reconstructed as a "sacred marriage": a man touches an elaborate necklace worn by a seated woman. There are problems with this interpretation. Above all, there are no certain representations of men and women in physical contact in Aegean art. The necklace's frontal faces have few parallels. The white area about the necklace does not depict a woman's neck; it should be in relief, not flat. Thus, the black line at left does not belong to her hair. And the blue tassel-like objects resemble more the net patterns on frescoes from Phylakopi, and this suggests that they represent the string and tassel ends of the necklace itself. Might the man therefore be holding his own necklace? Men wear necklaces almost as often as women. A woman touching or carrying a necklace is a common topos; the Jewel Fresco may present our only surviving (so far) male counterpart.