Early Minoan pottery named for a site near Phaistos, characterized by extensive use of painted lines instead of the earlier scored or burnished patterns and is known in two iterations. In the earlier phase, design typically was made of parallel or crosshatched painted red lines that swept around the curvature of buff clay vessels. In the later phase, painted red decoration was more formally designed, did not relate as much to the round form of the vessel, and typically was composed of crosshatched triangles or other simple geometric designs applied to the upper shoulder of jugs and jars, and to the interior or exterior of bowls and cups.
