DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0137
EARLY MINOAN III
111
polychro-
ray on
ssian
noteworthy from the character of the spiraliform pattern that it presents
which closely corresponds with that of a contemporary conoid seal of ivory
from the early tholos ossuary at Hagia Triada \ here placed beside it for
comparison, Fig. 77, a.
The side-spouted vessel, Fig. 78, which as its form shows—including
the well-marked collar—belongs to the same stage of evolution as the pre-
ceding, has a special importance as illustrating the beginnings of the true
polychrome technique. It came to light some years since, South West of
the Palace site at Knossos 2 and its coloured decoration agrees very closely incipient
with that of a small two-handled jar from the Deposit of Hagios Onuphrios
near Phaestos, found with marble figures in the Third Early Cycladic style. ^"°s
In both cases we see bands of a dark Indian red, bordered with dull white,
on a black-brown glaze ground. The white pigment itself on this Knossian
vessel and on others of the same small group is of the somewhat dingy
cream colour usual on E. M. Ill pottery and does not present the clear tint
of the ' new white ' that came into vogue at the beginning of the M. M. I
Period. On the other hand the matt Indian red colour that is here seen beside
it makes its appearance for the first time 4, and the increased lustre of the
dark glaze slip itself, in spite of the somewhat gritty texture of the clay, is
also noteworthy. It shows in places a metallic sheen. The exceptional
features in the polychromy of this vessel, taken in connexion with the sim-
plicity of the decoration and the morphological characteristics which link it
with the earlier tradition, give sufficient warrant for placing this specimen
together with the Hagios Onuphrios jar within at least the lower borders
of E.M. III.
The patterns on the ordinary E.M. Ill light on dark ware—some E.M. Ill
typical examples of which are given in Fig. 76—-present, in addition to patterns:
the simple o-eometrical forms of the class with the lio-lit Pfround, certain new Light on
S ... . . . & . Dark.
features. Curvilinear and spiraliform motives now for the first time appear,
and an interesting example has been already given in Fig. 77 of the
1 F. Halbherr, Mem. del R. 1st. Lombardo,
xxi, PL X, Figs. 25, 26.
2 This vessel was acquired by me before the
Excavation of the Palace, and at a time when
it was impossible to define its position in the
Minoan ceramic series.
3 Hagios Onuphrios Deposit, &c, p. 115,
Fig. 105. The form of this jar with its two
side handles survives in a distinctly developed
form in the ' Vat Room Deposit' belonging
to the earliest M. M. I phase (see p. 167,
Fig. 118 a (6, n) bdow).
4 Cf. Mackenzie. The Middle Minoan Pot-
tery of Knossos (J. H. S., xxvi, p. 245). The
orange tints, as Dr. Mackenzie observes, came
in later and, so far as the present instance goes,
are not found before M.M. I.
111
polychro-
ray on
ssian
noteworthy from the character of the spiraliform pattern that it presents
which closely corresponds with that of a contemporary conoid seal of ivory
from the early tholos ossuary at Hagia Triada \ here placed beside it for
comparison, Fig. 77, a.
The side-spouted vessel, Fig. 78, which as its form shows—including
the well-marked collar—belongs to the same stage of evolution as the pre-
ceding, has a special importance as illustrating the beginnings of the true
polychrome technique. It came to light some years since, South West of
the Palace site at Knossos 2 and its coloured decoration agrees very closely incipient
with that of a small two-handled jar from the Deposit of Hagios Onuphrios
near Phaestos, found with marble figures in the Third Early Cycladic style. ^"°s
In both cases we see bands of a dark Indian red, bordered with dull white,
on a black-brown glaze ground. The white pigment itself on this Knossian
vessel and on others of the same small group is of the somewhat dingy
cream colour usual on E. M. Ill pottery and does not present the clear tint
of the ' new white ' that came into vogue at the beginning of the M. M. I
Period. On the other hand the matt Indian red colour that is here seen beside
it makes its appearance for the first time 4, and the increased lustre of the
dark glaze slip itself, in spite of the somewhat gritty texture of the clay, is
also noteworthy. It shows in places a metallic sheen. The exceptional
features in the polychromy of this vessel, taken in connexion with the sim-
plicity of the decoration and the morphological characteristics which link it
with the earlier tradition, give sufficient warrant for placing this specimen
together with the Hagios Onuphrios jar within at least the lower borders
of E.M. III.
The patterns on the ordinary E.M. Ill light on dark ware—some E.M. Ill
typical examples of which are given in Fig. 76—-present, in addition to patterns:
the simple o-eometrical forms of the class with the lio-lit Pfround, certain new Light on
S ... . . . & . Dark.
features. Curvilinear and spiraliform motives now for the first time appear,
and an interesting example has been already given in Fig. 77 of the
1 F. Halbherr, Mem. del R. 1st. Lombardo,
xxi, PL X, Figs. 25, 26.
2 This vessel was acquired by me before the
Excavation of the Palace, and at a time when
it was impossible to define its position in the
Minoan ceramic series.
3 Hagios Onuphrios Deposit, &c, p. 115,
Fig. 105. The form of this jar with its two
side handles survives in a distinctly developed
form in the ' Vat Room Deposit' belonging
to the earliest M. M. I phase (see p. 167,
Fig. 118 a (6, n) bdow).
4 Cf. Mackenzie. The Middle Minoan Pot-
tery of Knossos (J. H. S., xxvi, p. 245). The
orange tints, as Dr. Mackenzie observes, came
in later and, so far as the present instance goes,
are not found before M.M. I.