DOI Artikel:
Evans, Arthur: Progress of Egyptology: foreign relations, [2]; the palace of Knossos in its egyptian relations
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11172#0075
Foreign Kelations.
61
with a support of cypress wood columns. The clay and rubble walls
of the inner rooms of the Palace, with their facing of painted plaster,
recall the similar structural arrangement of Tell-el-Amarna, where the
most finished frescoes were backed by Nile mud. The colours themselves
of the frescoes—here as there, so singularly durable—must have been
largely of the same composition.
A very beautiful adaptation of an Egyptian architectonic motive is seen
in a tall stone lamp of porphyry-like material, the pedestal of which is
shaped like a lotus column. Its section, however, is quatre-foil, and the
carving round the upper surface of the receptacle shows a foliation of a
free Mycenaean character. In this as in other instances it will be seen
that the borrowing, when it took place, was not of a servile nature. Egyptian
elements were taken over, but they were at the same time assimilated.
The indebtedness to Egyptian instruction in technical processes was, as
usual in Mycenaean remains, very marked. Many fragments of vitreous
paste were found of pale green and blue, and a brilliant lapis-lazuli colour.
Various objects also occurred with green, black, and purple glazes covering
a fine sandy core. Among these were flounced female figures of the
usual Mycenaean character and of evidently indigenous manufacture.
The most remarkable relic of this class was a spouted vase with a pale
bluish-green glaze, of unique character, originally provided with two upright
handles. Its form does not seem to find any close parallel in Egypt, and
like the flounced ladies must be set down as of native fabric. The same
must also be said of a series of glazed plaques and roundels for inlaying,
most of which were found on the floor of the Throne or Council Chamber.
Some of the roundels show a certain approximation in style and tone to
those of Tell-el-Yahudiyeh.
A special feature of the decorative art of Knossos seems to have been
the inlaying of caskets with finely cut plaques of rock crystal. Some of
these show traces of painting on their lower surface—in one case the
fore-part of a galloping bull in the most exquisite miniature style. This
" back-work on crystal," as it would have been described by sixteenth
century writers,—paralleled by the rock crystal pommel from Mycenae,—
seems also to have been an Egyptian art. Professor Petrie has compared
the example from Mycenae with a rock crystal scarab painted inside,
from Gurob.
When we come to examine the fresco remains in which the Palace was
so exceptionally rich, a wide field of.comparison at once opens itself. The
brilliant and varied decorative designs show numerous points of re-
semblance to the motives of XVTIIth and XlXth Dynasty ceiling patterns,
61
with a support of cypress wood columns. The clay and rubble walls
of the inner rooms of the Palace, with their facing of painted plaster,
recall the similar structural arrangement of Tell-el-Amarna, where the
most finished frescoes were backed by Nile mud. The colours themselves
of the frescoes—here as there, so singularly durable—must have been
largely of the same composition.
A very beautiful adaptation of an Egyptian architectonic motive is seen
in a tall stone lamp of porphyry-like material, the pedestal of which is
shaped like a lotus column. Its section, however, is quatre-foil, and the
carving round the upper surface of the receptacle shows a foliation of a
free Mycenaean character. In this as in other instances it will be seen
that the borrowing, when it took place, was not of a servile nature. Egyptian
elements were taken over, but they were at the same time assimilated.
The indebtedness to Egyptian instruction in technical processes was, as
usual in Mycenaean remains, very marked. Many fragments of vitreous
paste were found of pale green and blue, and a brilliant lapis-lazuli colour.
Various objects also occurred with green, black, and purple glazes covering
a fine sandy core. Among these were flounced female figures of the
usual Mycenaean character and of evidently indigenous manufacture.
The most remarkable relic of this class was a spouted vase with a pale
bluish-green glaze, of unique character, originally provided with two upright
handles. Its form does not seem to find any close parallel in Egypt, and
like the flounced ladies must be set down as of native fabric. The same
must also be said of a series of glazed plaques and roundels for inlaying,
most of which were found on the floor of the Throne or Council Chamber.
Some of the roundels show a certain approximation in style and tone to
those of Tell-el-Yahudiyeh.
A special feature of the decorative art of Knossos seems to have been
the inlaying of caskets with finely cut plaques of rock crystal. Some of
these show traces of painting on their lower surface—in one case the
fore-part of a galloping bull in the most exquisite miniature style. This
" back-work on crystal," as it would have been described by sixteenth
century writers,—paralleled by the rock crystal pommel from Mycenae,—
seems also to have been an Egyptian art. Professor Petrie has compared
the example from Mycenae with a rock crystal scarab painted inside,
from Gurob.
When we come to examine the fresco remains in which the Palace was
so exceptionally rich, a wide field of.comparison at once opens itself. The
brilliant and varied decorative designs show numerous points of re-
semblance to the motives of XVTIIth and XlXth Dynasty ceiling patterns,