Reproduction of the "Cat and Pheasant" and "Leaping Deer" frescos

Emile Gilliéron · 1450-01-01T00:00:00Z

Excavated 1903 in a room of the east wing of the villa at Agia Triadha, Crete.On the right, a cat stalks a pheasant-like bird. It is perhaps the most poignant and sensitively rendered scene of the animal kingdom preserved from Bronze Age Crete. At left the rear part of an animal, sometimes identified as a deer and more recently as a wild Cretan goat or agrimi bounds across a rocky, flower-filled landscape. From the same room were found additional fragments, including the fragment with flowering plants displayed nearby and a large female figure wearing a flounced skirt. The frescos decorated at least three walls of the room. Early interpretations viewed the paintings as the luxurious secular decoration of a private bedroom. More recently, the scenes have been viewed as representing a religious shrine in a natural setting. The original is in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete.