DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0090
64
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Incipient
use of
Lustrous
Paint or
' Urfir-
niss'.
Stone
Deriva-
tives of
Neolithic
Clay
Figurines.
Later
Figures
with more
Detailed
Features.
Appear-
ance of
Early
Egyptian
Forms of
Stone
Vases.
Other
Evi-
dences
of Early
Con-
nexion
with Nile
Valley.
Fig. 27,1 found in a rock-shelter at Hagia Photia, has a base as well as
collar, but it follows the archaic tradition in its suspension handles. The
upper part shows a deep ferruginous reel lattice pattern on a pale ground.
The above vessels illustrate the incipient use of lustrous paint or ' Urfir-
niss ', henceforward an abiding characteristic of theMinoan fabrics.2
In this Period we see a growing tendency to make figurines of hard
stone instead of clay, or occasionally steatite. Some of these simply repro-
duce the earlier class of squatting female figures of very adipose form.3
Others represent the broader and flatter clay type which also goes back to
Neolithic times and which leads up to the violin-shaped earlier Cyclaclic class
(Fig. 13, io).4 At the same time, a more upright class of stone figures
seems to have originated from versions of the seated class by a gradual
process of extension—the legs at first being little more than stumps. It
would also appear that at this time more attention was paid to the features
of the head, which in the Neolithic class is often a mere protuberance.
This later tendency is illustrated by the head of a figure from Central Crete
(Fig. 13, 20) executed in a fine-grained alabaster, the delicate striations of
which give it the appearance of fossil ivory. The slight curve of this
figurine as seen in profile is very characteristic ; the hips are very broad,
like the contemporary example in breccia from Gortyna (Fig. 13, 8).
The primitive connexion with the Nile Valley, to which reference has
already been made, is illustrated by the appearance in Crete—principally at
Knossos—of a whole series of Egyptian stone vessels of forms and materials
in vogue not only during the first four dynasties, but in the Late Prehistoric
or Pre-dynastic Periotl that preceded them.5
That there existed some special bond of community between the early
Cretan culture and that of an indigenous Nilotic element of great antiquity is
established by a series of phenomena in different departments of art, but all
leading back to the same conclusion. In dealing with the seal-types of the
succeeding Early Minoan Periods it will be shown that many of the most
characteristic designs, such as the composite and monstrous shape to which
that of the Minotaur itself owes its origin, go back to Pre-clynastic types.
1 Gouriiia, p. 56, Fig. 38, 3. Height 13 cm.
With this painted vessel was found a globular pot
of grey clay with shallow scoring, provided with
four small suspension handles (id., Fig. 38, 4).
2 See above, p. 63, note 1.
3 For the evolution of these see the Table,
Fig. 13, p. 48 above.
4 The Cycladic type Fig. 13, 11 represents
a later stage.
5 Attention has been called to some of
these discoveries in my account of the ' Sepul-
chral Deposit of Hagios Onuphrios' (Supple-
ment to Cretan Pictograflhs, &c. Quaritch,
1895, p. 117 seqq.).
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Incipient
use of
Lustrous
Paint or
' Urfir-
niss'.
Stone
Deriva-
tives of
Neolithic
Clay
Figurines.
Later
Figures
with more
Detailed
Features.
Appear-
ance of
Early
Egyptian
Forms of
Stone
Vases.
Other
Evi-
dences
of Early
Con-
nexion
with Nile
Valley.
Fig. 27,1 found in a rock-shelter at Hagia Photia, has a base as well as
collar, but it follows the archaic tradition in its suspension handles. The
upper part shows a deep ferruginous reel lattice pattern on a pale ground.
The above vessels illustrate the incipient use of lustrous paint or ' Urfir-
niss ', henceforward an abiding characteristic of theMinoan fabrics.2
In this Period we see a growing tendency to make figurines of hard
stone instead of clay, or occasionally steatite. Some of these simply repro-
duce the earlier class of squatting female figures of very adipose form.3
Others represent the broader and flatter clay type which also goes back to
Neolithic times and which leads up to the violin-shaped earlier Cyclaclic class
(Fig. 13, io).4 At the same time, a more upright class of stone figures
seems to have originated from versions of the seated class by a gradual
process of extension—the legs at first being little more than stumps. It
would also appear that at this time more attention was paid to the features
of the head, which in the Neolithic class is often a mere protuberance.
This later tendency is illustrated by the head of a figure from Central Crete
(Fig. 13, 20) executed in a fine-grained alabaster, the delicate striations of
which give it the appearance of fossil ivory. The slight curve of this
figurine as seen in profile is very characteristic ; the hips are very broad,
like the contemporary example in breccia from Gortyna (Fig. 13, 8).
The primitive connexion with the Nile Valley, to which reference has
already been made, is illustrated by the appearance in Crete—principally at
Knossos—of a whole series of Egyptian stone vessels of forms and materials
in vogue not only during the first four dynasties, but in the Late Prehistoric
or Pre-dynastic Periotl that preceded them.5
That there existed some special bond of community between the early
Cretan culture and that of an indigenous Nilotic element of great antiquity is
established by a series of phenomena in different departments of art, but all
leading back to the same conclusion. In dealing with the seal-types of the
succeeding Early Minoan Periods it will be shown that many of the most
characteristic designs, such as the composite and monstrous shape to which
that of the Minotaur itself owes its origin, go back to Pre-clynastic types.
1 Gouriiia, p. 56, Fig. 38, 3. Height 13 cm.
With this painted vessel was found a globular pot
of grey clay with shallow scoring, provided with
four small suspension handles (id., Fig. 38, 4).
2 See above, p. 63, note 1.
3 For the evolution of these see the Table,
Fig. 13, p. 48 above.
4 The Cycladic type Fig. 13, 11 represents
a later stage.
5 Attention has been called to some of
these discoveries in my account of the ' Sepul-
chral Deposit of Hagios Onuphrios' (Supple-
ment to Cretan Pictograflhs, &c. Quaritch,
1895, p. 117 seqq.).