DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0044
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
33
of carbonised wood, apparently parts of a chest, together with a large
looped handle of bronze, numerous plaques of native faience and crystal
with which the chest had evidently been encrusted, and quantities of the
usual gold foil. The crystal plaques had been much splintered by the
action of fire, but the faience inlays were better preserved. They were
mostly of a purplish hue, some narrower pieces (Fig. 17), however, showing
stripes of this colour on a greenish, white ground. The shape of the plaques
will be seen from Fig. 17. It will be noticed that the most characteristic
form shows triple projections with incurving sides, suggestive of their
having been arranged in some such pattern as is shown in the figure. It
is, moreover, evident that they were set in a rectilinear frame, since the
plaques are in several cases cut off abruptly so as to present a straight end.
Patterns of analogous character, but formed of combinations of quatrefoil
instead of trefoil units, appear on the embroidered robe of the Cupbearer
and again in the decorative wall-paintings of the Palace. It looks as if
such designs had been taken over into other branches of Minoan art from
existing models in faience mosaic. An exceptionally large porcelain
plaque of the quatrefoil type was in fact found near the North-East border
of the Palace. In the painter's or embroiderer's art such designs are
derivative : in that of the inlayer they are at home.
The gold foil here was most abundant, and it was noticeable that in
several cases it was found folded over the faience plaques, as if some at
least had been originally coated with it. Many plaques were also covered
with minute grains of melted gold.
A fragment of a pitlws of ordinary Late Palace character, found in
the upper part of this Kasella, shows that its final closing, due to the
construction of the pavement above, took place at a comparatively late
period. It is probable however that the remains of the inlaid chest must
be referred to the first Period of the Later Palace.
The cists of type B (Fig. 16) are squarer in plan and more capacious
than those of the preceding class. They are also more numerous, being
symmetrically arranged in four groups of five, each group separated from
the next by an interval filled with the usual red earth.
Their depth is greater than those of the other series, being about 170
to 1-45 metre as against V2l. They also exhibit certain structural differ-
ences. The side slabs which are here of limestone instead of gypsum, are
not, as in the other cists, set in grooves worked in the bottom slab, but
d
33
of carbonised wood, apparently parts of a chest, together with a large
looped handle of bronze, numerous plaques of native faience and crystal
with which the chest had evidently been encrusted, and quantities of the
usual gold foil. The crystal plaques had been much splintered by the
action of fire, but the faience inlays were better preserved. They were
mostly of a purplish hue, some narrower pieces (Fig. 17), however, showing
stripes of this colour on a greenish, white ground. The shape of the plaques
will be seen from Fig. 17. It will be noticed that the most characteristic
form shows triple projections with incurving sides, suggestive of their
having been arranged in some such pattern as is shown in the figure. It
is, moreover, evident that they were set in a rectilinear frame, since the
plaques are in several cases cut off abruptly so as to present a straight end.
Patterns of analogous character, but formed of combinations of quatrefoil
instead of trefoil units, appear on the embroidered robe of the Cupbearer
and again in the decorative wall-paintings of the Palace. It looks as if
such designs had been taken over into other branches of Minoan art from
existing models in faience mosaic. An exceptionally large porcelain
plaque of the quatrefoil type was in fact found near the North-East border
of the Palace. In the painter's or embroiderer's art such designs are
derivative : in that of the inlayer they are at home.
The gold foil here was most abundant, and it was noticeable that in
several cases it was found folded over the faience plaques, as if some at
least had been originally coated with it. Many plaques were also covered
with minute grains of melted gold.
A fragment of a pitlws of ordinary Late Palace character, found in
the upper part of this Kasella, shows that its final closing, due to the
construction of the pavement above, took place at a comparatively late
period. It is probable however that the remains of the inlaid chest must
be referred to the first Period of the Later Palace.
The cists of type B (Fig. 16) are squarer in plan and more capacious
than those of the preceding class. They are also more numerous, being
symmetrically arranged in four groups of five, each group separated from
the next by an interval filled with the usual red earth.
Their depth is greater than those of the other series, being about 170
to 1-45 metre as against V2l. They also exhibit certain structural differ-
ences. The side slabs which are here of limestone instead of gypsum, are
not, as in the other cists, set in grooves worked in the bottom slab, but
d