DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0044
20
PORCELAIN AND IVORY
Apart from this wall decoration there is not only a
profusion of vase types—a phenomenon one has been led
to expect on all Mediterranean sites—but examples of
other more distinctive kinds of artistic work. The royal
Draught Board defies description, with its blaze of gold
and silver, ivory and crystal, and the blue glass paste
that we read of in Homer as " kuanos."1 The fabric of por-
celain introduces us to an art that was utterly unexpected
in the ^Egean world, with its delicate shades of green and
white and brown and lilac. Some plaques formed part of
a mosaic that covered human life with its varied scenes of
peace and war. Here we have warriors, the Cretan erect,
and his darker-skinned enemy prostrate and suppliant.
Here is the Cretan wild goat or Agrimi, the vine, too,
and the willow, and curving horizontal bands for running
water ; 8 there a whole city, with towers and three-
storied houses,' in whose windows oiled red-tinted parch-
ment seems to have anticipated the use of glass. A
mass of burnt cypress found near suggests that all this
was set in a wooden framework, and formed the decora-
tion of some royal chest. As Mr. Evans remarks, we
are nearer to the shield of Achilles than we have ever
been before.
Other plaques again, as plausibly reconstructed from
isolated fragments, give us nature scenes, such as flying
fish in a border of rocks and sea-shells." It was a subject
that pleased the fancy of an island people, and inspired
not only the fresco of the Queen's Mcgaron, but that
other painting that carried the fame of Knossos over-seas,
to the " Blue Room "at Phylakopi."
1 B.S.A. viL fig. 25, p. 79. For the Bptygit Kvuvmn, see Od.
vii. 87. See the Frieze at Tiryns in S.S. 1891, fig. 106,
p. 116.
J B.S.A. viii. fig. 10, p. 21. 3 Ibid. figs. 8, 9, pp. 15-7.
4 Ibid. ix. fig. 46, p. 69.
5 Ibid. viii. pp. 58-9; Phylahopt, pp. 70-2, Plate III. See
below, p. 179.
PORCELAIN AND IVORY
Apart from this wall decoration there is not only a
profusion of vase types—a phenomenon one has been led
to expect on all Mediterranean sites—but examples of
other more distinctive kinds of artistic work. The royal
Draught Board defies description, with its blaze of gold
and silver, ivory and crystal, and the blue glass paste
that we read of in Homer as " kuanos."1 The fabric of por-
celain introduces us to an art that was utterly unexpected
in the ^Egean world, with its delicate shades of green and
white and brown and lilac. Some plaques formed part of
a mosaic that covered human life with its varied scenes of
peace and war. Here we have warriors, the Cretan erect,
and his darker-skinned enemy prostrate and suppliant.
Here is the Cretan wild goat or Agrimi, the vine, too,
and the willow, and curving horizontal bands for running
water ; 8 there a whole city, with towers and three-
storied houses,' in whose windows oiled red-tinted parch-
ment seems to have anticipated the use of glass. A
mass of burnt cypress found near suggests that all this
was set in a wooden framework, and formed the decora-
tion of some royal chest. As Mr. Evans remarks, we
are nearer to the shield of Achilles than we have ever
been before.
Other plaques again, as plausibly reconstructed from
isolated fragments, give us nature scenes, such as flying
fish in a border of rocks and sea-shells." It was a subject
that pleased the fancy of an island people, and inspired
not only the fresco of the Queen's Mcgaron, but that
other painting that carried the fame of Knossos over-seas,
to the " Blue Room "at Phylakopi."
1 B.S.A. viL fig. 25, p. 79. For the Bptygit Kvuvmn, see Od.
vii. 87. See the Frieze at Tiryns in S.S. 1891, fig. 106,
p. 116.
J B.S.A. viii. fig. 10, p. 21. 3 Ibid. figs. 8, 9, pp. 15-7.
4 Ibid. ix. fig. 46, p. 69.
5 Ibid. viii. pp. 58-9; Phylahopt, pp. 70-2, Plate III. See
below, p. 179.