DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0069
40
MINIATURE DESIGNS OF EMBROIDERIES
Bull's
head
trophy
between
pair of
sphinxes-
Em-
broidered
swallows
on Melian
fresco.
marriage dances.1 How early the use of the double-pipes was known in the
Aegean World may be seen from the marble image of a flute-player found
in a grave of the Island of Keros 2 and going back to an epoch corresponding
with the last Early Minoan Period.
Another inset, in a slightly arched space of the larger pattern, consists
of a kind of bull's head trophy apparently between a pair of sphinxes (of
which only one is preserved), antithetically arranged. The bull's or ox's
head figure is completed by another somewhat larger example (Fig. 25, a)
already illustrated as supporting elephants' tusks.3 A figure of a seated
griffin (Fig. 25, e) may have formed part of a similar opposed pair on
the same zone. Fig. 25, f, shows part of one or other of these sacral
monsters with its front facing and expanded wings. There are other
enigmatic fragments.
As to the meaning here of the curvilinear arrangement of the larger
part of the decorative framework in which these miniature insets are in-
cluded there can, as already said, be little question. The whole forms part
of the front of the robe of a female personage. That the curving bands are in
fact quite appropriate in this connexion may be seen, for instance, from the
remains of figures belonging to the 'Procession Fresco' at Knossos, and
those of Thebes and elsewhere. What is singular in the present case is the
introduction of these miniature designs, which have nothing to do with
textile art and must certainly be regarded as elaborate pieces of embroidery.
A close parallel to this, however, is supplied by the front of the skirt of a
female figure, part of which is preserved on some painted stucco fragments
found at Phylakopi in Melos (Fig. 26) in the same room that contained the
' Flying Fish' fresco,4 and, like it, a work of the Knossian School going back
to the earlier phase of M. M. III.5
A richly dressed lady seated on a rock is here seen engaged in fishing
with a net of a kind still used in those waters, and the beautifully outlined
arms of a companion, who bends forward,6 may be thought to be pulling
one up.
Here, on the part of the robe corresponding with the lap of the first
lady, is an embroidered design of two conventionally rendered swallows set
pp. 51-4, where the subject is fully discussed. 3 Cf. P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 742, Fig. 475.
Cf. Mosso, Escursioni nel Mediterraneo e gli
Scavi di Creia, pp. 260, 261, and Fig. 146.
1 //. xviii. 491 seqq.
2 U. Koehler, Ath.Mitth., ix(i884), PL VI,
and pp. 156-8. Cf. Perrot et Chipiez, Hist.
de I Art, vi (firece primitive), p. 760, Fig. 357.
4 See R. C. Bosanquet, Phylakopi, pp. 73-
5 and Fig. 61 (wrongly described as a man).
3 See P. ofM., i, p. 544.
c Phylakopi, p. 74, Fig. 62, and cf. P. o/M.,
i» P- 544, Fig- 396.
MINIATURE DESIGNS OF EMBROIDERIES
Bull's
head
trophy
between
pair of
sphinxes-
Em-
broidered
swallows
on Melian
fresco.
marriage dances.1 How early the use of the double-pipes was known in the
Aegean World may be seen from the marble image of a flute-player found
in a grave of the Island of Keros 2 and going back to an epoch corresponding
with the last Early Minoan Period.
Another inset, in a slightly arched space of the larger pattern, consists
of a kind of bull's head trophy apparently between a pair of sphinxes (of
which only one is preserved), antithetically arranged. The bull's or ox's
head figure is completed by another somewhat larger example (Fig. 25, a)
already illustrated as supporting elephants' tusks.3 A figure of a seated
griffin (Fig. 25, e) may have formed part of a similar opposed pair on
the same zone. Fig. 25, f, shows part of one or other of these sacral
monsters with its front facing and expanded wings. There are other
enigmatic fragments.
As to the meaning here of the curvilinear arrangement of the larger
part of the decorative framework in which these miniature insets are in-
cluded there can, as already said, be little question. The whole forms part
of the front of the robe of a female personage. That the curving bands are in
fact quite appropriate in this connexion may be seen, for instance, from the
remains of figures belonging to the 'Procession Fresco' at Knossos, and
those of Thebes and elsewhere. What is singular in the present case is the
introduction of these miniature designs, which have nothing to do with
textile art and must certainly be regarded as elaborate pieces of embroidery.
A close parallel to this, however, is supplied by the front of the skirt of a
female figure, part of which is preserved on some painted stucco fragments
found at Phylakopi in Melos (Fig. 26) in the same room that contained the
' Flying Fish' fresco,4 and, like it, a work of the Knossian School going back
to the earlier phase of M. M. III.5
A richly dressed lady seated on a rock is here seen engaged in fishing
with a net of a kind still used in those waters, and the beautifully outlined
arms of a companion, who bends forward,6 may be thought to be pulling
one up.
Here, on the part of the robe corresponding with the lap of the first
lady, is an embroidered design of two conventionally rendered swallows set
pp. 51-4, where the subject is fully discussed. 3 Cf. P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 742, Fig. 475.
Cf. Mosso, Escursioni nel Mediterraneo e gli
Scavi di Creia, pp. 260, 261, and Fig. 146.
1 //. xviii. 491 seqq.
2 U. Koehler, Ath.Mitth., ix(i884), PL VI,
and pp. 156-8. Cf. Perrot et Chipiez, Hist.
de I Art, vi (firece primitive), p. 760, Fig. 357.
4 See R. C. Bosanquet, Phylakopi, pp. 73-
5 and Fig. 61 (wrongly described as a man).
3 See P. ofM., i, p. 544.
c Phylakopi, p. 74, Fig. 62, and cf. P. o/M.,
i» P- 544, Fig- 396.