DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0125
500 MARINE SUBJECTS ON VASES
Marine Pieces and their Ceramic Imitations.
The manifold imitations of plant designs, copied from the M. M. Ill
frescoes by the vase-painters of the beginning of the Late Minoan Age, and
notably the constant repetition of certain types such as the reeds or grasses,
show what an extensive vogue this naturalistic style must have had in the
wall decoration of the closing Middle Minoan phase. The further explora-
tion of Minoan houses, of the same date as the ' House of the Frescoes ', will
doubtless supply much corroborative material.
Marine 11 is somewhat strange that, while flowers and plants culled from this
subjects landscape style were at once taken over into the ceramic repertory, the
M. M. Ill marine pieces, of the existence of which we have so much direct evidence in
the Third Middle Minoan Period, should have left so small a mark on
L. M. la vase-painting, though in the succeeding phase (L. M. I b) they may
Only fre- be said to have come in with a rush. The phenomenon, moreover, is the more
vases in" remarkable since this marine style is already seen reflected on a M. M. Ill
L. M. lb. burial jar from the Pachyammos Cemetery, illustrated in the First Volume of
this work,1 showing dolphins with rocks above and a pebbly beach—or sea-
floor—below. In another sepulchral pit of that cemetery there was found,
indeed, a similar jar of transitional type, presenting dark dolphins picked out
with ' matt' white on a light buff ground.2
Marine It seems as if, owing to some change of fashion, terrestrial scenes had
SUDlCCtS
in'House come into greater favour with the fresco painters of the latter part of
ofFres- iy,{ ^t_ j j j^ probably because they offered a greater variety of brilliant hues.
It is clear that in the case of the ' House of the Frescoes' the fragments
belonging to the marine class, though well represented, are by no means
so abundant as the other group. Specimens of these are given here in
Fig. 305, including part, apparently, of an argonaut shell such as is so often
repeated in the faience relief panel with flying-fish and a rock-work border
from the Temple Repositories, and here, as there, without its tentacles.
The other fragments here reproduced show rocks with seaweed and coralline
clinging to them, and at times fringing small blue pools, while below is seen
a margent of sea sand with golden grains.
Marine But the most exquisite forerunners of the later L. M. I marine ceramic
developed style must be sought in small reliefs on vases and engraved seals. This
at Knos- sty]e can, in fact, be traced much farther back at Knossos than in anv other
sos by ' J
M. M. locality, owing to its appearance, already in a fully developed form, on some
II b.
1 P. of M., i, p. 608, Fig. 447 a (see Seager, 2 P. of M., i, p. 608, Fig. ±17 b (Seager,
Cemetery of Pachyammos, PI. XIV and p. 23). Cemetery of Pachyammos, PI. IX).
Marine Pieces and their Ceramic Imitations.
The manifold imitations of plant designs, copied from the M. M. Ill
frescoes by the vase-painters of the beginning of the Late Minoan Age, and
notably the constant repetition of certain types such as the reeds or grasses,
show what an extensive vogue this naturalistic style must have had in the
wall decoration of the closing Middle Minoan phase. The further explora-
tion of Minoan houses, of the same date as the ' House of the Frescoes ', will
doubtless supply much corroborative material.
Marine 11 is somewhat strange that, while flowers and plants culled from this
subjects landscape style were at once taken over into the ceramic repertory, the
M. M. Ill marine pieces, of the existence of which we have so much direct evidence in
the Third Middle Minoan Period, should have left so small a mark on
L. M. la vase-painting, though in the succeeding phase (L. M. I b) they may
Only fre- be said to have come in with a rush. The phenomenon, moreover, is the more
vases in" remarkable since this marine style is already seen reflected on a M. M. Ill
L. M. lb. burial jar from the Pachyammos Cemetery, illustrated in the First Volume of
this work,1 showing dolphins with rocks above and a pebbly beach—or sea-
floor—below. In another sepulchral pit of that cemetery there was found,
indeed, a similar jar of transitional type, presenting dark dolphins picked out
with ' matt' white on a light buff ground.2
Marine It seems as if, owing to some change of fashion, terrestrial scenes had
SUDlCCtS
in'House come into greater favour with the fresco painters of the latter part of
ofFres- iy,{ ^t_ j j j^ probably because they offered a greater variety of brilliant hues.
It is clear that in the case of the ' House of the Frescoes' the fragments
belonging to the marine class, though well represented, are by no means
so abundant as the other group. Specimens of these are given here in
Fig. 305, including part, apparently, of an argonaut shell such as is so often
repeated in the faience relief panel with flying-fish and a rock-work border
from the Temple Repositories, and here, as there, without its tentacles.
The other fragments here reproduced show rocks with seaweed and coralline
clinging to them, and at times fringing small blue pools, while below is seen
a margent of sea sand with golden grains.
Marine But the most exquisite forerunners of the later L. M. I marine ceramic
developed style must be sought in small reliefs on vases and engraved seals. This
at Knos- sty]e can, in fact, be traced much farther back at Knossos than in anv other
sos by ' J
M. M. locality, owing to its appearance, already in a fully developed form, on some
II b.
1 P. of M., i, p. 608, Fig. 447 a (see Seager, 2 P. of M., i, p. 608, Fig. ±17 b (Seager,
Cemetery of Pachyammos, PI. XIV and p. 23). Cemetery of Pachyammos, PI. IX).