DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0132
MARINE SUBJECTS IN KNOSSIAN VASE-PAINTINGS 507
cups of the Vapheio form with similar bull-hunting reliefs were found with
the gold bowl. The pebbly sea-bottom, however, seen within the rock
border, is of true pictorial tradition, and the marine subject itself has a fine
appropriateness to the embossed figures of ships that are made to sail
around the upper border of the bowl.
It is clear that, in tracing the origin of the marine style of vase-painting Influence
that characterizes the later phase of L. M. I, account must be taken of re|iefson
intermediate models directly supplied by vessels of steatite, faience, or L-M-l °
. . marine
precious metals as well as of the influences of frescoes on the walls. Certain types on
features on ewers of this class, like that of the Marseilles Museum,
clearly point to metallic prototypes, even showing the rivet-heads at the
upper attachment of the handle. It must always be borne in mind, how- The
ever, that as an element of purely ceramic decoration marine subjects were sei^l
of great antiquity in Crete. Fish among rocks and sea-shells are already Ewer',
found, indeed, in the earliest stage of Middle Minoan polychromy,1
followed by symmetrical versions of octopus,2 more literal figures of which influence
begin to appear in M. M. III. By the closing phase of M. M. Ill, more- °^'
over, true naturalistic marine designs of dolphins swimming beside a rocky designs
on walls.
border and with the pebbled sea-bottom visible below are already, as we
have seen, depicted on a Pachyammos urn.3
In these ceramic works we may again see the reflection of fresco 'Dolphin
designs, like that of the dolphins and other fish, found in the area of the ^tr^°s.
Queen's Megaron at Knossos. The marine fragments from the ' House of sos and j
the Frescoes' have now supplemented this by showing that the creatures and fragments
growths of the rocky sea margin, the shells, seaweeds, and corallines, were f^"1 s of
also treated in detail by the Minoan wall-painters of the close of the Middle Frescoes'.
Minoan Age.
It is reasonable to suppose that Knossos, where so far as the evidence Knossos a
goes the picturesque marine style, in relief work, at any rate, had its earliest ^ m. 14
source and found its most splendid development, was also a principal centre marine
. L l L style on
of the later ceramic fabrics with this class of decoration. Numerous painted vases,
fragments of vases illustrating such designs have, indeed, come to light,
but, owing to the fact already referred to, that the L. M. I b phase, to
which these belong, was not marked by any break of cultural continuity
either in the Palace itself or the adjacent houses, so far as they have been
1 See P. of M., i, p. 182, Fig. 131,0,4; * A decorative version of an octopus ap-
fish in the latter case swimming among what pears on a M. M. II bowl from the Kamares
may be very conventional rocks; Coloured Cave {op. cit., p. 246, Fig. 186,/).
Plate I, b and d, some kind of volute shell. 3 Op. cit., p. 608, Fig. 447 a.
cups of the Vapheio form with similar bull-hunting reliefs were found with
the gold bowl. The pebbly sea-bottom, however, seen within the rock
border, is of true pictorial tradition, and the marine subject itself has a fine
appropriateness to the embossed figures of ships that are made to sail
around the upper border of the bowl.
It is clear that, in tracing the origin of the marine style of vase-painting Influence
that characterizes the later phase of L. M. I, account must be taken of re|iefson
intermediate models directly supplied by vessels of steatite, faience, or L-M-l °
. . marine
precious metals as well as of the influences of frescoes on the walls. Certain types on
features on ewers of this class, like that of the Marseilles Museum,
clearly point to metallic prototypes, even showing the rivet-heads at the
upper attachment of the handle. It must always be borne in mind, how- The
ever, that as an element of purely ceramic decoration marine subjects were sei^l
of great antiquity in Crete. Fish among rocks and sea-shells are already Ewer',
found, indeed, in the earliest stage of Middle Minoan polychromy,1
followed by symmetrical versions of octopus,2 more literal figures of which influence
begin to appear in M. M. III. By the closing phase of M. M. Ill, more- °^'
over, true naturalistic marine designs of dolphins swimming beside a rocky designs
on walls.
border and with the pebbled sea-bottom visible below are already, as we
have seen, depicted on a Pachyammos urn.3
In these ceramic works we may again see the reflection of fresco 'Dolphin
designs, like that of the dolphins and other fish, found in the area of the ^tr^°s.
Queen's Megaron at Knossos. The marine fragments from the ' House of sos and j
the Frescoes' have now supplemented this by showing that the creatures and fragments
growths of the rocky sea margin, the shells, seaweeds, and corallines, were f^"1 s of
also treated in detail by the Minoan wall-painters of the close of the Middle Frescoes'.
Minoan Age.
It is reasonable to suppose that Knossos, where so far as the evidence Knossos a
goes the picturesque marine style, in relief work, at any rate, had its earliest ^ m. 14
source and found its most splendid development, was also a principal centre marine
. L l L style on
of the later ceramic fabrics with this class of decoration. Numerous painted vases,
fragments of vases illustrating such designs have, indeed, come to light,
but, owing to the fact already referred to, that the L. M. I b phase, to
which these belong, was not marked by any break of cultural continuity
either in the Palace itself or the adjacent houses, so far as they have been
1 See P. of M., i, p. 182, Fig. 131,0,4; * A decorative version of an octopus ap-
fish in the latter case swimming among what pears on a M. M. II bowl from the Kamares
may be very conventional rocks; Coloured Cave {op. cit., p. 246, Fig. 186,/).
Plate I, b and d, some kind of volute shell. 3 Op. cit., p. 608, Fig. 447 a.