Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 1): The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages (London, 1921)

M. M. II : ROYAL POTTERY STORES (CERAMIC PHASE a) 241

remains of pedestalled goblets. This deposit rested on a stamped clay floor.
Further concordant elements for the comparative place of these remains is
supplied by the circumstance that these Pottery Stores were cut into by the
Magazines containing the knobbed pit/wi, which seem themselves to
synchronize with the earliest constructions of the Domestic Quarter.

It has been already shown1 that marvellously thin cups of egg-shell Egg-she
ware in the old traditional mottled style were already turned out in the early are'
part of the preceding Period, and even by the close of E. M. III. But these

Fig. 181. Polychrome Cup of 'Egg-shell' Ware, Knossos. (f]

products of the M. M. II potter's art applied to the new glaze technique, and
often combined with the most brilliant polychromy and delicate repousse
work, stand on a much higher plane.

Among the cups from the Royal Pottery Stores Fig. 181 is one of the The
most beautiful. It is light and spontaneous as a bubble, and the design Lijy
below—the calix of a water-lily as it floats on the surface of a pool—is in keep-
ing with the lightsomeness of form. This floral motive may well have been
suggested by a lotus vase of Egypt, but the treatment is more delicate, and
the subdued delicacy of the embossed relief enhances the effect of the design.
The outer leaves of the calix are here black with a central vein of red, the

1 See above, p. 169.
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