DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0492
452
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Faience
inlays.
Gold foil
used as
covering.
Floor-
Cists of
Group B:
used as
vats.
Here was found a heap of carbonized wood, apparently belonging to a chest
—in other cases bronze hinges of such occurred—and numerous plaques
of crystal and native faience with which it had been encrusted. The crystal
had been much splintered by the action of fire. The faience plaques, of
which specimens are given in Fig. 324, were of a deep purplish colour—
some border pieces however (d) showing stripes of this colour on a pale
green ground. The most abundant type was a kind of trefoil1 (a-a) with
triple projections and incurved sides—roughly arranged in a pattern in
the Fig.—and the fact that some of these projections had been abruptly
truncated (as x-x) shows that they had been fitted into a rectangular frame.
The parallelism between the faience inlays and those from the Temple Reposi-
tories described below bespeaks absolute contemporaneity. The pointed type
c is interesting, since crystal examples of the same form were found not only
in the Western Repository, but also in the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, and it
is clear that in all these cases they represent the petals of a rosette pattern,
arranged around a central disk. One interesting feature observable on many
of the plaques was that they still showed the remains of the gold-foil, in some
cases carefully wrapped round them,2 with which apparently all the faience
inlays had been originally coated. This system of decoration is very
characteristic of the times.
A large looped handle of bronze was found belonging to a wooden
chest which these inlays had decorated. But of the precious vessels, the
jewellery, and the other valuable objects that it may have contained nothing-
has been preserved to us. Of the character of these our only available
evidence is supplied by the imported masterpieces of the Minoan gold-
smith's Art found in the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, the early elements in
which—apart from some still more ancient heirlooms—are contemporary
with the closing phase of the Third Middle Minoan Period.3 Had any of
these, it may well be asked, found an earlier resting-place in the ' kaselles'
and Repositories of the great Cretan Palace ?
The more numerously represented series, b, of the floor-cists in the
Long Gallery, consisting of four groups of five each, are of a different
construction, and were clearly designed to perform functions of another kind
(see Fig. 325, d). They are of squarer plan, deeper and more capacious
1 Quatrefoil plaques of faience also occurred from the loin-cloth of the Cup-bearer Fresco,
in the Palace, of contemporary fabric (an excep- 2 In other cases the inlays were covered by
tionally large one near the N.E. border) This minute globules of melted gold, a further
type of inlay was imitated in the Minoan em- evidence of a conflagration,
broidery in the later Palace Epoch, as is seen 3 See Vol. II.
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Faience
inlays.
Gold foil
used as
covering.
Floor-
Cists of
Group B:
used as
vats.
Here was found a heap of carbonized wood, apparently belonging to a chest
—in other cases bronze hinges of such occurred—and numerous plaques
of crystal and native faience with which it had been encrusted. The crystal
had been much splintered by the action of fire. The faience plaques, of
which specimens are given in Fig. 324, were of a deep purplish colour—
some border pieces however (d) showing stripes of this colour on a pale
green ground. The most abundant type was a kind of trefoil1 (a-a) with
triple projections and incurved sides—roughly arranged in a pattern in
the Fig.—and the fact that some of these projections had been abruptly
truncated (as x-x) shows that they had been fitted into a rectangular frame.
The parallelism between the faience inlays and those from the Temple Reposi-
tories described below bespeaks absolute contemporaneity. The pointed type
c is interesting, since crystal examples of the same form were found not only
in the Western Repository, but also in the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, and it
is clear that in all these cases they represent the petals of a rosette pattern,
arranged around a central disk. One interesting feature observable on many
of the plaques was that they still showed the remains of the gold-foil, in some
cases carefully wrapped round them,2 with which apparently all the faience
inlays had been originally coated. This system of decoration is very
characteristic of the times.
A large looped handle of bronze was found belonging to a wooden
chest which these inlays had decorated. But of the precious vessels, the
jewellery, and the other valuable objects that it may have contained nothing-
has been preserved to us. Of the character of these our only available
evidence is supplied by the imported masterpieces of the Minoan gold-
smith's Art found in the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, the early elements in
which—apart from some still more ancient heirlooms—are contemporary
with the closing phase of the Third Middle Minoan Period.3 Had any of
these, it may well be asked, found an earlier resting-place in the ' kaselles'
and Repositories of the great Cretan Palace ?
The more numerously represented series, b, of the floor-cists in the
Long Gallery, consisting of four groups of five each, are of a different
construction, and were clearly designed to perform functions of another kind
(see Fig. 325, d). They are of squarer plan, deeper and more capacious
1 Quatrefoil plaques of faience also occurred from the loin-cloth of the Cup-bearer Fresco,
in the Palace, of contemporary fabric (an excep- 2 In other cases the inlays were covered by
tionally large one near the N.E. border) This minute globules of melted gold, a further
type of inlay was imitated in the Minoan em- evidence of a conflagration,
broidery in the later Palace Epoch, as is seen 3 See Vol. II.