DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0058
GOLD, BRONZE, AND STONE 33
its way to North Italy and the head of the Adriatic,1
and passed thence through Central Europe to influence
the zoned Celtic urns, such as have been found at Ayles-
ford in our own county of Kent.! In Crete, however,
the metal-workers were not content with bronze, but as
their skill grew perfect, sought to express it in a more
splendid metal. Solid gold was beaten up with a blunt
instrument from behind into bold relief, and finished
with a sharp chisel in front. The finest examples of
this goldsmith's work, unequalled at any time except
during the Italian Renaissance, were brought to light
eighteen years ago in a beehive tomb at Vaphio in the
Peloponnese; 5 but, although found on the mainland,
these famous bull-trapping cups are now generally
believed to have been an import from a Cretan
workshop.
How common such solid gold work was we cannot
tell. It tempted the cupidity of the Northerners, and
was melted down for their ruder uses. It was an attempt
to produce the effect of gold in a cheaper medium, or
only, perhaps, an act of assertion on the part of the
stone-carvers that they could do as well, that produced
this gold-coated steatite. It has survived to us because
the looter happily found out the fraud before he left
the building, stripped off the gold-leaf, and threw the
vases down with a spite so well moderated that we are
able to reconstruct the fragments.
The tallest of the three vases (Plate I. a1), which would
1 Zannoni, S.C.B. 1876, Plate XXXV. figs. 6, 7, and CXLIX.
fig. 8 Montclius C.P.I. Plates CV. figs. 1, 2, and C. fig. 1),
for Bologna; and Hoernes U.K. 1898, Plates XXXIII. and
XXXV. figs. 2, 5, 6 lor Lower Austria and the Tyrol.
Evans in Arch. lii. 1890, p. 335. See also a summary of his
Khind Lecture on "The ancient Venetian Art Province, and
its influence on the Celtic races," in Scotsman, December 14, 1895.
It is still unfortunately unpublished.
s S.S. 1891, App. Plate III. Sec below, pp. 88, 136-7.
4 First published by l lalbherr in Rend. xiv. 1905, pp. 365-405,
3
its way to North Italy and the head of the Adriatic,1
and passed thence through Central Europe to influence
the zoned Celtic urns, such as have been found at Ayles-
ford in our own county of Kent.! In Crete, however,
the metal-workers were not content with bronze, but as
their skill grew perfect, sought to express it in a more
splendid metal. Solid gold was beaten up with a blunt
instrument from behind into bold relief, and finished
with a sharp chisel in front. The finest examples of
this goldsmith's work, unequalled at any time except
during the Italian Renaissance, were brought to light
eighteen years ago in a beehive tomb at Vaphio in the
Peloponnese; 5 but, although found on the mainland,
these famous bull-trapping cups are now generally
believed to have been an import from a Cretan
workshop.
How common such solid gold work was we cannot
tell. It tempted the cupidity of the Northerners, and
was melted down for their ruder uses. It was an attempt
to produce the effect of gold in a cheaper medium, or
only, perhaps, an act of assertion on the part of the
stone-carvers that they could do as well, that produced
this gold-coated steatite. It has survived to us because
the looter happily found out the fraud before he left
the building, stripped off the gold-leaf, and threw the
vases down with a spite so well moderated that we are
able to reconstruct the fragments.
The tallest of the three vases (Plate I. a1), which would
1 Zannoni, S.C.B. 1876, Plate XXXV. figs. 6, 7, and CXLIX.
fig. 8 Montclius C.P.I. Plates CV. figs. 1, 2, and C. fig. 1),
for Bologna; and Hoernes U.K. 1898, Plates XXXIII. and
XXXV. figs. 2, 5, 6 lor Lower Austria and the Tyrol.
Evans in Arch. lii. 1890, p. 335. See also a summary of his
Khind Lecture on "The ancient Venetian Art Province, and
its influence on the Celtic races," in Scotsman, December 14, 1895.
It is still unfortunately unpublished.
s S.S. 1891, App. Plate III. Sec below, pp. 88, 136-7.
4 First published by l lalbherr in Rend. xiv. 1905, pp. 365-405,
3