DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0034
14 PREHISTORIC PERIODS
period 1700-1580 (M.M. Ill), while the latest, still of the
same general style, hardly post-date 1470. The subsequent
bronzes show a rapid deterioration both of style and of
technique and soon assimilate themselves to a crude general
style common to most shores of the eastern Mediterranean.
In the case of the main series of Minoan statuettes of the
best type there seems to have been a uniform method
followed in the casting. What is now seen as the pedestal
upon which the figure stands, which itself is part and parcel
of the flat footplate holding the feet, is technically formed
from the crude bronze which was left in the orifice down
which it was, when liquid, poured by the caster. This is
most clearly seen in the case of an interesting statuette
found in the Harbour Town of Knossos.1 Here the pedestal
consists of a solid button-shaped mass of bronze formed by
the last drops that were poured into the mouth of the mould:
it is joined to the feet by two separate pipes of bronze which
were formed by the two separate holes that led the liquid
metal down the cast into each leg. In the case of the usual
male ‘worshipper’ the junction between the footplate and the
mouth of the mould is effected by a single simple tube which,
in the casting, filled up with bronze and so made a rod of
metal, joining to a flat plate.2
In the case of the female ‘worshippers’ the ample skirts
provided their own basis of support, and there are no
additional pedestals.
The lack of finish, even where it involved the smallest
conceivable after-treatment, is seen in the case of the statuette
of a male from the Harbour Town of Cnossos. The casting,
as in most of these figures, was a rough one, probably
from a sand-mould, and small lumps of metal, caused by
defective casting, are still adhering to the surface. The
simplest process of final surface polishing would have re-
moved them.
1 Evans, Palace of Minos, II. i, p. 234 and fig. 132. Also Lamb, op. cit.,
pi. vin b. 2 Lamb, op. cit., pi. v and vm, a, b.
period 1700-1580 (M.M. Ill), while the latest, still of the
same general style, hardly post-date 1470. The subsequent
bronzes show a rapid deterioration both of style and of
technique and soon assimilate themselves to a crude general
style common to most shores of the eastern Mediterranean.
In the case of the main series of Minoan statuettes of the
best type there seems to have been a uniform method
followed in the casting. What is now seen as the pedestal
upon which the figure stands, which itself is part and parcel
of the flat footplate holding the feet, is technically formed
from the crude bronze which was left in the orifice down
which it was, when liquid, poured by the caster. This is
most clearly seen in the case of an interesting statuette
found in the Harbour Town of Knossos.1 Here the pedestal
consists of a solid button-shaped mass of bronze formed by
the last drops that were poured into the mouth of the mould:
it is joined to the feet by two separate pipes of bronze which
were formed by the two separate holes that led the liquid
metal down the cast into each leg. In the case of the usual
male ‘worshipper’ the junction between the footplate and the
mouth of the mould is effected by a single simple tube which,
in the casting, filled up with bronze and so made a rod of
metal, joining to a flat plate.2
In the case of the female ‘worshippers’ the ample skirts
provided their own basis of support, and there are no
additional pedestals.
The lack of finish, even where it involved the smallest
conceivable after-treatment, is seen in the case of the statuette
of a male from the Harbour Town of Cnossos. The casting,
as in most of these figures, was a rough one, probably
from a sand-mould, and small lumps of metal, caused by
defective casting, are still adhering to the surface. The
simplest process of final surface polishing would have re-
moved them.
1 Evans, Palace of Minos, II. i, p. 234 and fig. 132. Also Lamb, op. cit.,
pi. vin b. 2 Lamb, op. cit., pi. v and vm, a, b.