DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0067
PREHISTORIC PERIODS 37
cutter. Whether it developed from the gem-cutter’s art is a
question for the answer to which there is insufficient evidence.
Possibly both developed side by side.
The carving of soft stones, on the other hand, seems to
have followed the methods of the wood-carver and the ivory-
cutter. The well-known vessels of steatite that follow metallic
or pottery shapes are turned on a lathe—itself a carpenter’s
tool—and the decorated surface is then cut with a knife-
blade. The drill is used here and there, but rarely, and the
incised outlines so frequently seen round the human and
animal figures depicted on steatite vases are carefully cut
with a knife-point.
The processes used for cutting hard stones seem to have
been learned in part, at any rate, from the Cyclades, where
the cutting of marble was an art that flourished before any
hard-stone sculptural work of any consequence was cut in
Crete. The antiquity of the famous idols of the Cycladic
islands is considerable and the use of emery-stone as a
medium must be dated back in the islands to the first cutting
of marble. The use of emery for this purpose seems to have
survived without interruption down to the present day.
That Crete learned many of her processes of working stone
from Egypt is beyond dispute, but I am concerned here
rather in showing what processes were actually in use in
the Minoan-Mycenaean region than what was the exact
origin of those processes. In fact some inventions, like the
use of the saw, are actually attributed to Cretans, and the
use of emery as an abrasive tool may have originated in Naxos,
though it must be borne in mind that Egyptians and others
must have imported emery from Naxos before the Naxians
employed it themselves.
There is no evidence as yet that hard-stone sculptures were
painted or adorned with other than incidental additions.
The head of the lioness from Knossos had eyes that were
made of jasper, inserted into the marble. The lion’s head
may have had similar eyes.
cutter. Whether it developed from the gem-cutter’s art is a
question for the answer to which there is insufficient evidence.
Possibly both developed side by side.
The carving of soft stones, on the other hand, seems to
have followed the methods of the wood-carver and the ivory-
cutter. The well-known vessels of steatite that follow metallic
or pottery shapes are turned on a lathe—itself a carpenter’s
tool—and the decorated surface is then cut with a knife-
blade. The drill is used here and there, but rarely, and the
incised outlines so frequently seen round the human and
animal figures depicted on steatite vases are carefully cut
with a knife-point.
The processes used for cutting hard stones seem to have
been learned in part, at any rate, from the Cyclades, where
the cutting of marble was an art that flourished before any
hard-stone sculptural work of any consequence was cut in
Crete. The antiquity of the famous idols of the Cycladic
islands is considerable and the use of emery-stone as a
medium must be dated back in the islands to the first cutting
of marble. The use of emery for this purpose seems to have
survived without interruption down to the present day.
That Crete learned many of her processes of working stone
from Egypt is beyond dispute, but I am concerned here
rather in showing what processes were actually in use in
the Minoan-Mycenaean region than what was the exact
origin of those processes. In fact some inventions, like the
use of the saw, are actually attributed to Cretans, and the
use of emery as an abrasive tool may have originated in Naxos,
though it must be borne in mind that Egyptians and others
must have imported emery from Naxos before the Naxians
employed it themselves.
There is no evidence as yet that hard-stone sculptures were
painted or adorned with other than incidental additions.
The head of the lioness from Knossos had eyes that were
made of jasper, inserted into the marble. The lion’s head
may have had similar eyes.