DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0023
PREHISTORIC PERIODS 3
except for the left leg. The little figure stands 5-5 cm. high
and shows a rigid human figure with the hands clasped on
the breast. It has no obvious connexion with known types
in bronze. In fact it appears rather to have been derived
from the rigidly conventional ‘Cycladic Idols’ of the islands
which were widely imported into Crete and seem to have
become objects of considerable demand. Like the Tylissos
figure this is made by rubbing.
From Kalathiana comes a small figure of a lion in hard
grey stone about 4 cm. in length and pierced at the shoulders
for suspension. This may be compared with the superb
axe of schist from Mallia1 which ends in a leopard protome.
Neither of the two has ever been touched with a chisel or
gouge; they are the product of a careful process of steady
and intricate rubbing.2
The only other example of hard stone sculpture of the
.human figure attributed to Cretan workmanship is the
statuette of a lady now in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cam-
bridge.3 Since it does not come under the head of works
whose pedigree is unimpeachable it will be dealt with
separately after the authentic works have been discussed.
The most noteworthy examples of sculpture in hard stone
(or relatively hard stone) other than of human figures are the
two fine heads of a lion and lioness from Knossos.4 With
them must be associated the part of a muzzle of a precisely
similar head found underneath the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi.
The head of the lioness from Knossos is executed in a
marble-like limestone, that of the lion in alabaster. The
Delphian fragment is of the same marble-limestone as that
of which the head of the lioness is made.
All three appear to be of Late Minoan date, probably
1 Mallia, premier rapport (1922-4), pi. xxm.
2 Aided in the case of the Mallia axe by a burin for incising detail and a
tubular reed drill for rendering the facial markings.
3 A. J. B. Wace, A Cretan Statuette in the Fitzwilliam Museum, 1927.
4 Evans, Palace of Minos, ir. ii, pp. 827 ff.
except for the left leg. The little figure stands 5-5 cm. high
and shows a rigid human figure with the hands clasped on
the breast. It has no obvious connexion with known types
in bronze. In fact it appears rather to have been derived
from the rigidly conventional ‘Cycladic Idols’ of the islands
which were widely imported into Crete and seem to have
become objects of considerable demand. Like the Tylissos
figure this is made by rubbing.
From Kalathiana comes a small figure of a lion in hard
grey stone about 4 cm. in length and pierced at the shoulders
for suspension. This may be compared with the superb
axe of schist from Mallia1 which ends in a leopard protome.
Neither of the two has ever been touched with a chisel or
gouge; they are the product of a careful process of steady
and intricate rubbing.2
The only other example of hard stone sculpture of the
.human figure attributed to Cretan workmanship is the
statuette of a lady now in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cam-
bridge.3 Since it does not come under the head of works
whose pedigree is unimpeachable it will be dealt with
separately after the authentic works have been discussed.
The most noteworthy examples of sculpture in hard stone
(or relatively hard stone) other than of human figures are the
two fine heads of a lion and lioness from Knossos.4 With
them must be associated the part of a muzzle of a precisely
similar head found underneath the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi.
The head of the lioness from Knossos is executed in a
marble-like limestone, that of the lion in alabaster. The
Delphian fragment is of the same marble-limestone as that
of which the head of the lioness is made.
All three appear to be of Late Minoan date, probably
1 Mallia, premier rapport (1922-4), pi. xxm.
2 Aided in the case of the Mallia axe by a burin for incising detail and a
tubular reed drill for rendering the facial markings.
3 A. J. B. Wace, A Cretan Statuette in the Fitzwilliam Museum, 1927.
4 Evans, Palace of Minos, ir. ii, pp. 827 ff.