DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0127
82 THE EARLIEST HELLENIC STONE STATUES
stices. The nature of the stone probably decided the method
of painting. While the Prinias statues would probably have
been covered with only the lightest of washes, the Attic
series, made of coarse stone which was pitted with holes,
would have necessitated a thick paint. And it is such a thick
paint that in fact survives in many instances in the Attic
series.
The only detail that seems to have called for more intricate
tools was the detail required on faces and sometimes in
decorative detail. The cutting-compass is the only instru-
ment which can be identified in this connexion. But it was
widely used. It is seen in limestone sculpture employed
for the eye of the Lion No. 41 in the Acropolis Museum, for
the eyes of the serpents referred to above, for the eyes of the
three-headed monster of the Hekatompedon pediment. But
it was only used in Crete apparently for architectural detail,
as in the border of the horsemen-frieze at Prinias.
The cutting-compass seems,at least on the mainland, to be
an instrument taken over from other crafts, chiefly those of
the potter and the ivory-carver. The priority of its use by
other crafts is proved conclusively by the remarkably clear
evidence of the excavations at Sparta, where ivory ‘spectacle-
fibulae’ were found in the geometric strata and then continu-
ously to the strata that dated to the close of the seventh
century. The eighth century seems to have been the period
when they were most in use. Consequently we can be certain
that the use of the cutting-compass antedates in ivory-work
its use in stonework, for all spectacle-fibulae of ivory are cut
primarily with this instrument.
In ceramic the use of the instrument cannot be proved
for certain at a date earlier than the Prinias statues, but it is
best seen on contemporary and later terra-cotta architectural
fragments from the site of Artemis Orthia.2 Here a compass
that would be better described as an ‘incision-compass’ is
used to describe the double semicircle scales that make the
1 Dickins, op. cit., p. 76.
2 Op. cit., pis. xxii-xxiv.
stices. The nature of the stone probably decided the method
of painting. While the Prinias statues would probably have
been covered with only the lightest of washes, the Attic
series, made of coarse stone which was pitted with holes,
would have necessitated a thick paint. And it is such a thick
paint that in fact survives in many instances in the Attic
series.
The only detail that seems to have called for more intricate
tools was the detail required on faces and sometimes in
decorative detail. The cutting-compass is the only instru-
ment which can be identified in this connexion. But it was
widely used. It is seen in limestone sculpture employed
for the eye of the Lion No. 41 in the Acropolis Museum, for
the eyes of the serpents referred to above, for the eyes of the
three-headed monster of the Hekatompedon pediment. But
it was only used in Crete apparently for architectural detail,
as in the border of the horsemen-frieze at Prinias.
The cutting-compass seems,at least on the mainland, to be
an instrument taken over from other crafts, chiefly those of
the potter and the ivory-carver. The priority of its use by
other crafts is proved conclusively by the remarkably clear
evidence of the excavations at Sparta, where ivory ‘spectacle-
fibulae’ were found in the geometric strata and then continu-
ously to the strata that dated to the close of the seventh
century. The eighth century seems to have been the period
when they were most in use. Consequently we can be certain
that the use of the cutting-compass antedates in ivory-work
its use in stonework, for all spectacle-fibulae of ivory are cut
primarily with this instrument.
In ceramic the use of the instrument cannot be proved
for certain at a date earlier than the Prinias statues, but it is
best seen on contemporary and later terra-cotta architectural
fragments from the site of Artemis Orthia.2 Here a compass
that would be better described as an ‘incision-compass’ is
used to describe the double semicircle scales that make the
1 Dickins, op. cit., p. 76.
2 Op. cit., pis. xxii-xxiv.