Mini vessels

Two miniature vases are attached to this table. By definition, miniatures are based on real size objects. Everything is there, only smaller than usual. Miniature vessels are found in many different contexts, in various shapes and in large numbers. They have been, for example, recovered from sanctuaries, houses and graves. It suggests that they could have had more than one function.In contrast to Mycenaean miniature figurines, mini vases have not drawn a lot of attention amongst scholars (maybe because they were too ordinary? Or, maybe because of their complex chronology?). It was not until the 1960s that miniatures caught the attention of scholars.

They could have, for example, been used to substitute bigger sacrificial objects or votives. Or, are we looking at childrens’ toys, as scholars have argued after the first discoveries of miniature vessels in graves?Regardless of whether or not they were found in a child grave. In addition, miniature vessels are often associated with cultic activities, since they frequently appear in assemblages together with cultic equipment such as rythons and offering stones, suggesting libation practices;The noun rhyton derives from the Greek verb ῥέω, ‘to flow’. A rhyton is a vessel, often in the shape of an animal. It is used as a drinking cup or as a libation vessel. or were found on offering tables next to the hearth (close to the throne), like at Pylos, a former Mycenaean city state.See Blegen et al (1964),Corinth XIII. The North cemetery,Princeton] So, are we looking at a miniature version of something?In theory, any vessel that has been reduced in scale could function as a miniature. Not all vessels have their own miniature version. Some ‘normal’ vessels cannot be traced back in the miniature assemblages and vice versa. See Hammond (2009). ‘Figurines, the miniature vase, and cultic space’, pp.140-144.