DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0060
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
49
preceding section. An idea of the two Repositories, as they appeared when
opened out, with a few of the vases about them, may be gained from
Fig. 25. It will be seen that the smaller of the two superficial cists (see Fig.
19) belonging to the later floor was placed immediately above the partition
between the two Treasure Chambers, so that it has been possible to
preserve it intact.
§ 10.—The Temple Repositories : Fainted Pottery and
Imported Vessels from Melos.
As already noticed, the vases, of which some fifty more or less perfect
examples were discovered in the great Stone Repositories, completely
tally, so far as the indigenous fabrics are concerned, with the vessels
belonging to the close of the First Period of the Later Palace found in the
Kaselles of the West Magazines, the Plaster Closet, and elsewhere. We
find here the same prevailing fashion of white designs on a dark or mauve
ground,—usually broad spirals or vegetable forms. Characteristic types of
vessel such as the two-handled amphora (Fig. 26a) and the pitcher with a
raised ring round the neck and a broad-lipped mouth (Fig. 26/1!) and the
somewhat high-spouted types, c and e are also here repeated. A good
example of the broad white spiral and band decoration will be seen in
h of the group here reproduced, while d shows, white again on a dark
ground, a simple plant or grass design, which was to be taken over in a
reversed technique by the potters of the succeeding Palace Period—the
ground in that case being light and the decoration dark.
Side by side with these vessels, of which the great mass of
those found in the Repositories was composed—and which reproduce
the prevalent style of the ceramic class best described as ' Late
Minoan I,'—are others showing a brown decoration on the light surface of
the clay, such as /"of Fig. 26, which may or may not be of Cretan fabric.
On the other hand g of the same group, which presents a similar technique
in a somewhat variant aspect, is of great interest as a clear example of an
imported vessel.
This vase, of which two other more or less complete specimens were
found, exhibits as its principal motive three birds, the colouring of which
varies from brown to a brilliant red on the light buff ground of the clay
surface. Its archaic form—with the mouth drawn back in reminiscence of
e
49
preceding section. An idea of the two Repositories, as they appeared when
opened out, with a few of the vases about them, may be gained from
Fig. 25. It will be seen that the smaller of the two superficial cists (see Fig.
19) belonging to the later floor was placed immediately above the partition
between the two Treasure Chambers, so that it has been possible to
preserve it intact.
§ 10.—The Temple Repositories : Fainted Pottery and
Imported Vessels from Melos.
As already noticed, the vases, of which some fifty more or less perfect
examples were discovered in the great Stone Repositories, completely
tally, so far as the indigenous fabrics are concerned, with the vessels
belonging to the close of the First Period of the Later Palace found in the
Kaselles of the West Magazines, the Plaster Closet, and elsewhere. We
find here the same prevailing fashion of white designs on a dark or mauve
ground,—usually broad spirals or vegetable forms. Characteristic types of
vessel such as the two-handled amphora (Fig. 26a) and the pitcher with a
raised ring round the neck and a broad-lipped mouth (Fig. 26/1!) and the
somewhat high-spouted types, c and e are also here repeated. A good
example of the broad white spiral and band decoration will be seen in
h of the group here reproduced, while d shows, white again on a dark
ground, a simple plant or grass design, which was to be taken over in a
reversed technique by the potters of the succeeding Palace Period—the
ground in that case being light and the decoration dark.
Side by side with these vessels, of which the great mass of
those found in the Repositories was composed—and which reproduce
the prevalent style of the ceramic class best described as ' Late
Minoan I,'—are others showing a brown decoration on the light surface of
the clay, such as /"of Fig. 26, which may or may not be of Cretan fabric.
On the other hand g of the same group, which presents a similar technique
in a somewhat variant aspect, is of great interest as a clear example of an
imported vessel.
This vase, of which two other more or less complete specimens were
found, exhibits as its principal motive three birds, the colouring of which
varies from brown to a brilliant red on the light buff ground of the clay
surface. Its archaic form—with the mouth drawn back in reminiscence of
e