DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0087
THE GREAT POLYCHROME PERIOD 61
decorative, stylised mood from previous attempts to
imitate her.1 As will be seen shortly, when we come to
Middle Minoan I IE,2 the polychrome style of vase painting
did not really lend itself to naturalistic treatment. It is
interesting, however, to notice that the most beautiful
of all the vases we have found has an elaborate water-
lily design.* Plant form, if freely and boldly convention-
alised, could be used then, as it has been in many arts
since, to produce delightful decorative effects in any
medium. The outside of the cup is enfolded by white
petals, which, starting from a common centre at the
base, and combining with narrow red lines and sections
of the lustrous black of the ground, give a general im-
pression of a light flower floating on the surface of a pool,
though remote from the detail or colouring of nature.
Nor is the effect, spoilt by the complicated geometric
design that runs above the petals on the rim of the cup,
stamped out in low relief.
Once again, as at the end of Middle Minoan I., there
was a general catastrophe at Knossos. In more quarters
than one a large number of vases of the best polychrome
type are found lying together on a floor, in position and
practically undamaged, with a considerable depth of
earth between them and the Middle Minoan III. floors
above them.4 It was probably some way on in this
Middle Minoan III. period that the main scheme of the
Palace system, as we now see it, was conceived. Altera-
tions and additions were made later. Although the West
system in particular belongs as a whole to Middle Mi-
noan III., not only was the pavement of the West Court
1 See pp. S3-4- 2 See pp. 62-3.
3 B.S.A. viii. fig. 71, p. 120 ; J.H.S., xxiii., Plate VI., No. 3. It
is a cup (ibid. p. 173), though the handle is wanting and it looks,
as figured, like a bowl.
4 B.S.A. x. p. 16; so Mackenzie in J.H.S. xxvi. p. 256, but
his language is more guarded than that which he used about the
catastrophe at the end of M.M. I. on p. 253.
decorative, stylised mood from previous attempts to
imitate her.1 As will be seen shortly, when we come to
Middle Minoan I IE,2 the polychrome style of vase painting
did not really lend itself to naturalistic treatment. It is
interesting, however, to notice that the most beautiful
of all the vases we have found has an elaborate water-
lily design.* Plant form, if freely and boldly convention-
alised, could be used then, as it has been in many arts
since, to produce delightful decorative effects in any
medium. The outside of the cup is enfolded by white
petals, which, starting from a common centre at the
base, and combining with narrow red lines and sections
of the lustrous black of the ground, give a general im-
pression of a light flower floating on the surface of a pool,
though remote from the detail or colouring of nature.
Nor is the effect, spoilt by the complicated geometric
design that runs above the petals on the rim of the cup,
stamped out in low relief.
Once again, as at the end of Middle Minoan I., there
was a general catastrophe at Knossos. In more quarters
than one a large number of vases of the best polychrome
type are found lying together on a floor, in position and
practically undamaged, with a considerable depth of
earth between them and the Middle Minoan III. floors
above them.4 It was probably some way on in this
Middle Minoan III. period that the main scheme of the
Palace system, as we now see it, was conceived. Altera-
tions and additions were made later. Although the West
system in particular belongs as a whole to Middle Mi-
noan III., not only was the pavement of the West Court
1 See pp. S3-4- 2 See pp. 62-3.
3 B.S.A. viii. fig. 71, p. 120 ; J.H.S., xxiii., Plate VI., No. 3. It
is a cup (ibid. p. 173), though the handle is wanting and it looks,
as figured, like a bowl.
4 B.S.A. x. p. 16; so Mackenzie in J.H.S. xxvi. p. 256, but
his language is more guarded than that which he used about the
catastrophe at the end of M.M. I. on p. 253.