534

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Egyptian
Blue.

True
Fresco
Process
on Wet
Plaster.

Im-
pressed
lines for
guidance.

form of hydrate of lime, as used in modern and mediaeval times '. The
black seems to have been of the nature of a carbonaceous shale or slate like
the Italian chalks described by Cennino Cennini.1 The red and yellow colours
presented all the characteristics of iron earths. The yellow answers to
yellow ochre and this on calcination produces a light red. The deep red
which was largely employed from the earliest times 2 is a purer form of oxide
of iron, probably prepared from haematite.3 In the earlier part of the Middle
Minoan Age a deep natural blue was in use. Somewhat later, however, a blue
of brilliant cobalt hue, a crystalline silicate of copper,4 begins to take its
place, and by the beginning of the Late Minoan Age the predominance of this
splendid pigment was fully established. It is clear that this is identical with
the blue pigment early in use in Egypt and may be regarded as an Egyptian
product. Its frequent use in Crete from the closing phase of the Middle
Minoan Period onwards is one of the many indications of close commercial
relations with the Nile Valley. This material is the classical ' kyanos ' and
mediaeval ' smalt ' ,r> The green that occurs in the case of foliage was

>-> o

prepared by mixing blue and yellow ; it is only later, as at Tiryns that
a pure green pigment was employed, probably obtained by grinding
malachite.0 The use of a pigment of this character goes back, however,
to prehistoric times in Egypt.

It is impossible to doubt that the painted stucco was the result of
a true fresco process. Everywhere we find indications that the pigments
were applied when the stucco was still moist. Sometimes outlines are
sketched by means of a blunt point passed over the soft surface. In the
architectural pieces the artist's brush was guided by horizontal lines at close
intervals, and these were also produced by means of taut string. In the case

1 In Tiryns, ii, p. 215, Mr. Heaton speaks
of the black pigment there used as ' an impure

firmed and amplified by Dr. A. P. Laurie
(Proc. R. S., 1914 (No. A. 612), p. 418 seqq.).

form of carbon containing a large amount of The blue he states (p. 421) ' was prepared from

mineral matter, probably prepared by charring
bones'.

2 Mr. Heaton quotes Professor Flinders
Petrie (Abydos, ii, p. 38) for the statement that
this pigment was imported into Egypt from
Crete in Early Dynastic days. The cups, how-
ever, referred to as containing red ochre cannot
be regarded as of Cretan fabric.

3 Heaton, Tiryns, ii, p. 215.

4 F. Fouque, Bull. Soc. des Mines de France,
vol. xii, p. 36, and Comptes Rendus, &c,
vol. 108, p. 325. Fouque's results were con-

copper carbonate quartz and fusion mixture
alone' or from the same ingredients with the
addition of calcium carbonate. The material
is of the same composition as that used from
Prehistoric times in Egypt for glazing objects
of sandstone (op, cit., p. 428).

5 This is not, as Mr. Heaton points out,
Mural Paintings of Knos sos, p. 5, note, identical
with the modern ' smalt', which is ' a potash
glass coloured with cobalt'.

11 Heaton, in Tiryns, ii, p. 216.