DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0030
io PREHISTORIC PERIODS
not necessarily to be included.1 The remarkable painted head
made of stucco or plaster which was found by Tsountas at
Mycenae on the west side of the acropolis may be itself a cult
figure. The care with which the head is painted and the fact
that the painting and moulding are done with equal care all
round (Fig. 16) preclude us from attributing it to a mural
decoration in relief. It is certainly the head of a figure
intended to stand by itself. Its date is problematical, but
there are grounds for attributing it to the close of the last
Mycenaean period.2
iii. Soft Stones. Various forms of steatite were at all periods
extremely popular among Minoan artists. The knowledge of
the material and possibly the methods of working it probably
came to Crete from Sumeria, where it was popular at all
periods.
Steatite, when used for plain vases and cups, is usually
turned on a lathe. But, when used for figures or for elabor-
ately ornamented vessels like the Chieftain Vase or the
Harvester Vase, the vessel itself is turned but the decoration
is done, perhaps before the turning, almost exclusively by
means of a knife, as if it were woodwork. Proof of this is
difficult, but the traces of a knife-point are visible in several
instances. Moreover, by a process of elimination we are
driven to assume some tool of the knife type. For there are
neither chisel-marks nor file-marks, nor would it have been
possible for the intricate designs of steatite reliefs to be cut
by an abrasive process. The softness of steatite, together
with the compact nature of the stone and its absence of
cleavage or lamination makes it an ideal material for hand-
carving. It is certainly more tractable than ebony but harder
1 Evans, op. cit., iii, p. 522; and Ridgeway, Early Age, ii, p. 490 and n. 6.
The ears, hair-band, lips, and tatoo markings are dull red. The hair and eyes
are deep black. Both colours are painted over a chalk-white slip. The nostrils
are bored and uncoloured. Bosanquet thought that it was the head of a sphinx,
the head free and the body in relief. But the head in such a case would
certainly show an attachment at the back. No such attachment is visible.
2 Ridgeway, loc. cit.
not necessarily to be included.1 The remarkable painted head
made of stucco or plaster which was found by Tsountas at
Mycenae on the west side of the acropolis may be itself a cult
figure. The care with which the head is painted and the fact
that the painting and moulding are done with equal care all
round (Fig. 16) preclude us from attributing it to a mural
decoration in relief. It is certainly the head of a figure
intended to stand by itself. Its date is problematical, but
there are grounds for attributing it to the close of the last
Mycenaean period.2
iii. Soft Stones. Various forms of steatite were at all periods
extremely popular among Minoan artists. The knowledge of
the material and possibly the methods of working it probably
came to Crete from Sumeria, where it was popular at all
periods.
Steatite, when used for plain vases and cups, is usually
turned on a lathe. But, when used for figures or for elabor-
ately ornamented vessels like the Chieftain Vase or the
Harvester Vase, the vessel itself is turned but the decoration
is done, perhaps before the turning, almost exclusively by
means of a knife, as if it were woodwork. Proof of this is
difficult, but the traces of a knife-point are visible in several
instances. Moreover, by a process of elimination we are
driven to assume some tool of the knife type. For there are
neither chisel-marks nor file-marks, nor would it have been
possible for the intricate designs of steatite reliefs to be cut
by an abrasive process. The softness of steatite, together
with the compact nature of the stone and its absence of
cleavage or lamination makes it an ideal material for hand-
carving. It is certainly more tractable than ebony but harder
1 Evans, op. cit., iii, p. 522; and Ridgeway, Early Age, ii, p. 490 and n. 6.
The ears, hair-band, lips, and tatoo markings are dull red. The hair and eyes
are deep black. Both colours are painted over a chalk-white slip. The nostrils
are bored and uncoloured. Bosanquet thought that it was the head of a sphinx,
the head free and the body in relief. But the head in such a case would
certainly show an attachment at the back. No such attachment is visible.
2 Ridgeway, loc. cit.