DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0127
THE POTT ERY.
107
therefore, in tliese pages (merely as an aesthetic term and without any
cthnological prejudice) to denote the free, naturalistic style which now
begins to prevail and have not applied it to the earlier geometric style.
' Proto-Mycenaean,' a word of very vague connotation, I have thought it safer
to avoid altogether.
Following the principles of Furtwängler and Löschcke's Classification we
can distinguish four phases through which the local pottery of the Mycenaean
period passes. In the earliest stage the designs are applied in matt black
only : in the next stage we find a combiuation of matt black and lustrous red
or brown, the latter being used as a subsidiär)- colour; in the next phase the
lustrous pigment has become the dominant one and the matt black the
subsidiary; lastly the matt black disappears altogether. We may distinguish
the two intennediate groups by calling them respectively the ' black and
red ' and the ' red and black ' styles. Accessories in white, such as a row
of white dots along a red band, are of common occurrence on the later
vases. The above distinctions are roughly chronological but must not be
pressed too rigorously as a criterion of date. It is probable that on certain
common types such as XXXIII. 20 the use of the matt black technique
was kept up through force of association after its general decline.1
On most vases of the ' black and red ' class, and on inany later ones also
the lustrous pigment is a clear red. But on others, especially the later ones,
it presents the same appearance as that of the ordinary Mycenaean pottery,
varying from deep black to bright red according to the heat to which it has
been subjected. Whether in the two cases there is any difference in the
composition of the colouring matter, I am unable to say: it is evident,
however, in the case of the ' black and red ' and ' red and black ' designs that
a distinct red must have been aimed at originally for the sake of contrast
with the black. The prevalent tone of the lustrous pigment with which the
vases of Sect. ü are painted is a rieh blackish brown against which the matt
black of the following fabrics would scarcely show vtp at all: for a polychrome
design it was necessary that the glaze should be of a uniformly lighter colour
than this. The red parts of the'black and red' designs sometimes bear
traces of having been polished, while the ' red and black' vases have in
several cases been polished all over the surface after painting, with the result
that particles of the paint have got rubbed into the surrounding slip.
We also find pottery with white designs on a lustrous red ground
belonging to the present period. One group of fragments in particular had
designs in white, of the same character as those of Sect. 9, painted on a highly
polished red surface ; of these, however, we have no adequate illustration to
show, as the white has almost wholly vanished. Cf. also p. 154. In other
cases the surface is left unpolished and shows but a faint lustre; the fine
1 To adbere to the aetual Classification of
I-'. and L. would be impracticable. Varl of
the following material, however, might lie
classed under the 'pale clay' group of 'Matt-
maierei,' part of it under the second style of
the ' Firnissmalerei,' the remainder Standing
midway between the two.
107
therefore, in tliese pages (merely as an aesthetic term and without any
cthnological prejudice) to denote the free, naturalistic style which now
begins to prevail and have not applied it to the earlier geometric style.
' Proto-Mycenaean,' a word of very vague connotation, I have thought it safer
to avoid altogether.
Following the principles of Furtwängler and Löschcke's Classification we
can distinguish four phases through which the local pottery of the Mycenaean
period passes. In the earliest stage the designs are applied in matt black
only : in the next stage we find a combiuation of matt black and lustrous red
or brown, the latter being used as a subsidiär)- colour; in the next phase the
lustrous pigment has become the dominant one and the matt black the
subsidiary; lastly the matt black disappears altogether. We may distinguish
the two intennediate groups by calling them respectively the ' black and
red ' and the ' red and black ' styles. Accessories in white, such as a row
of white dots along a red band, are of common occurrence on the later
vases. The above distinctions are roughly chronological but must not be
pressed too rigorously as a criterion of date. It is probable that on certain
common types such as XXXIII. 20 the use of the matt black technique
was kept up through force of association after its general decline.1
On most vases of the ' black and red ' class, and on inany later ones also
the lustrous pigment is a clear red. But on others, especially the later ones,
it presents the same appearance as that of the ordinary Mycenaean pottery,
varying from deep black to bright red according to the heat to which it has
been subjected. Whether in the two cases there is any difference in the
composition of the colouring matter, I am unable to say: it is evident,
however, in the case of the ' black and red ' and ' red and black ' designs that
a distinct red must have been aimed at originally for the sake of contrast
with the black. The prevalent tone of the lustrous pigment with which the
vases of Sect. ü are painted is a rieh blackish brown against which the matt
black of the following fabrics would scarcely show vtp at all: for a polychrome
design it was necessary that the glaze should be of a uniformly lighter colour
than this. The red parts of the'black and red' designs sometimes bear
traces of having been polished, while the ' red and black' vases have in
several cases been polished all over the surface after painting, with the result
that particles of the paint have got rubbed into the surrounding slip.
We also find pottery with white designs on a lustrous red ground
belonging to the present period. One group of fragments in particular had
designs in white, of the same character as those of Sect. 9, painted on a highly
polished red surface ; of these, however, we have no adequate illustration to
show, as the white has almost wholly vanished. Cf. also p. 154. In other
cases the surface is left unpolished and shows but a faint lustre; the fine
1 To adbere to the aetual Classification of
I-'. and L. would be impracticable. Varl of
the following material, however, might lie
classed under the 'pale clay' group of 'Matt-
maierei,' part of it under the second style of
the ' Firnissmalerei,' the remainder Standing
midway between the two.