DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0120
THE EARLIEST HELLENIC STONE STATUES 77
into a definite class of votive objects, as can be safely inferred
from the inscriptions which some of them bear. As votive
objects they may be considered as dedications of the work-
men employed on the building of the later temple. Some
few may perhaps be regarded simply as ‘lunch-hour master-
pieces’ like the Acropolis faces. The fact that they vary in
quality from being mere scratchings (e.g. Nos. 53, 56, 57, 58)
to almost perfectly finished reliefs (e.g. Nos. 13, 46) is hard
to explain. Those that can be certainly identified as dedica-
tions are No. 23, a relief of a horse’s head offered to Artemis
Orthia by one Theokormidas, No. 28, a horse in relief offered
by one Epanidas, or No. 33, a horse’s head in relief offered
anonymously to FpoOaaia. All three are clumsily cut and
unbeautiful. Perhaps it would be wiser to interpret them as
the simple offerings of mere masons who were, perhaps
light-heartedly, endeavouring to emulate the examples of the
sculptors whose work was being done before their eyes.
There is a small group of figures in the round. Some, like
Nos. 1,3, and 7-11, were certainly never intended for serious
contemplation; others, like Nos. 4, an unfinished ?male
figure wearing a polos, or 5, a fragment of a small xoanon
figure, are intended as, and might have succeeded in being,
works of art.
The bulk of the remainder are reliefs. Of these some, like
Nos. 12-16, are in the manner of the Spartan ivory plaques,
and show figures which have been achieved simply by a
process of cutting away a background round a line-drawing
which was the first step taken by the sculptor with his plain
stone slab. The various stages of this cutting away of the
background can be seen in No. 38, a horse in relief, where it
has just begun, and No. 24, where the process is completed,
save for the final smoothing of the background. In both alike
the marks of the knife-blade are plain beyond cavil and the
marks of a chisel are nowhere apparent.
No. 16, a queer and clumsy figure of a man holding a spear
or staff, bears a striking resemblance to the equally clumsy
into a definite class of votive objects, as can be safely inferred
from the inscriptions which some of them bear. As votive
objects they may be considered as dedications of the work-
men employed on the building of the later temple. Some
few may perhaps be regarded simply as ‘lunch-hour master-
pieces’ like the Acropolis faces. The fact that they vary in
quality from being mere scratchings (e.g. Nos. 53, 56, 57, 58)
to almost perfectly finished reliefs (e.g. Nos. 13, 46) is hard
to explain. Those that can be certainly identified as dedica-
tions are No. 23, a relief of a horse’s head offered to Artemis
Orthia by one Theokormidas, No. 28, a horse in relief offered
by one Epanidas, or No. 33, a horse’s head in relief offered
anonymously to FpoOaaia. All three are clumsily cut and
unbeautiful. Perhaps it would be wiser to interpret them as
the simple offerings of mere masons who were, perhaps
light-heartedly, endeavouring to emulate the examples of the
sculptors whose work was being done before their eyes.
There is a small group of figures in the round. Some, like
Nos. 1,3, and 7-11, were certainly never intended for serious
contemplation; others, like Nos. 4, an unfinished ?male
figure wearing a polos, or 5, a fragment of a small xoanon
figure, are intended as, and might have succeeded in being,
works of art.
The bulk of the remainder are reliefs. Of these some, like
Nos. 12-16, are in the manner of the Spartan ivory plaques,
and show figures which have been achieved simply by a
process of cutting away a background round a line-drawing
which was the first step taken by the sculptor with his plain
stone slab. The various stages of this cutting away of the
background can be seen in No. 38, a horse in relief, where it
has just begun, and No. 24, where the process is completed,
save for the final smoothing of the background. In both alike
the marks of the knife-blade are plain beyond cavil and the
marks of a chisel are nowhere apparent.
No. 16, a queer and clumsy figure of a man holding a spear
or staff, bears a striking resemblance to the equally clumsy