DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0497
444
THE IVORY BOY-GOD: ALREADY BELTED
Frag-
ments of
steatite
cups with
male
heads in
relief
found
with
ivory.
Ivory
figure of
boy-God
as found.
Belt
already
fitted to
child's
body.
a b
Fig. 308. a, b, Fragments of Dark Steatite Cup
with Reliefs, Said to have been found with
Figurine of Boy-God.
part of a highly expert nature, but tempered with the usual ignorance that dogs
the forger's footsteps. In addition to a series of gold rings—on one of which
the Minotaur figured under his later aspect with a human body—the bulk of
the objects were steatite vessels with reliefs, one of these a pedestalled cup
clearly based on that from
Hagia Triada depicting the
' Young Prince'. It must be
said that the artist seems to
have had convenient access
to the Museum at Candia.
Fragments, however, of two
small heads in relief belong-
ing to similar vessels which
were said to have been
actually associated with the
ivory figure, belong unques-
tionably to the finest transitional style of that class (Fig. 308, a, b).
One of these («) wearing a head-piece or tiara of unusual character holds
up his hand as if in the act of adoration or salutation apparently in front
of a shrine. The other is clearly engaged in some athletic contest.
As will be seen from the views of the ivory statuette itself in the condi-
tion in which it emerged, the main part of the figure was preserved in one
piece,—a very different fate from that of the Goddess! The chief damage
that it had suffered was the disintegration of the front part of the two thighs
from the groin to the knees, and the missing material here has been success-
fully filled in, for the better conservation of the whole, with a mixture
of wax and paraffin.1 Of the arms, one was entirely wanting, but the greater
part of the right arm was preserved, as shown in Fig. 309. They were
originally in separate pieces, the sockets for the insertion of the tenons of
which are visible on each side of the figure.
Though the artist's intention was clearly to represent a child not more
than about ten years of age, we see the Minoan belt already fitted to the
small body and, indeed, must suppose, from the disproportionate width of the
thighs as compared with the waist, that it had already begun to adapt itself
to the forcible constriction of the internal organs imposed by the narrow,
apparently metal ring.
That no attempt was made to girdle in this way quite young boys of
1 This was skilfully executed for me by Mr. W. H. Young, the formatore of the Ashmolean
Museum.
THE IVORY BOY-GOD: ALREADY BELTED
Frag-
ments of
steatite
cups with
male
heads in
relief
found
with
ivory.
Ivory
figure of
boy-God
as found.
Belt
already
fitted to
child's
body.
a b
Fig. 308. a, b, Fragments of Dark Steatite Cup
with Reliefs, Said to have been found with
Figurine of Boy-God.
part of a highly expert nature, but tempered with the usual ignorance that dogs
the forger's footsteps. In addition to a series of gold rings—on one of which
the Minotaur figured under his later aspect with a human body—the bulk of
the objects were steatite vessels with reliefs, one of these a pedestalled cup
clearly based on that from
Hagia Triada depicting the
' Young Prince'. It must be
said that the artist seems to
have had convenient access
to the Museum at Candia.
Fragments, however, of two
small heads in relief belong-
ing to similar vessels which
were said to have been
actually associated with the
ivory figure, belong unques-
tionably to the finest transitional style of that class (Fig. 308, a, b).
One of these («) wearing a head-piece or tiara of unusual character holds
up his hand as if in the act of adoration or salutation apparently in front
of a shrine. The other is clearly engaged in some athletic contest.
As will be seen from the views of the ivory statuette itself in the condi-
tion in which it emerged, the main part of the figure was preserved in one
piece,—a very different fate from that of the Goddess! The chief damage
that it had suffered was the disintegration of the front part of the two thighs
from the groin to the knees, and the missing material here has been success-
fully filled in, for the better conservation of the whole, with a mixture
of wax and paraffin.1 Of the arms, one was entirely wanting, but the greater
part of the right arm was preserved, as shown in Fig. 309. They were
originally in separate pieces, the sockets for the insertion of the tenons of
which are visible on each side of the figure.
Though the artist's intention was clearly to represent a child not more
than about ten years of age, we see the Minoan belt already fitted to the
small body and, indeed, must suppose, from the disproportionate width of the
thighs as compared with the waist, that it had already begun to adapt itself
to the forcible constriction of the internal organs imposed by the narrow,
apparently metal ring.
That no attempt was made to girdle in this way quite young boys of
1 This was skilfully executed for me by Mr. W. H. Young, the formatore of the Ashmolean
Museum.