DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0124
go SILVER 'RHYTON' WITH SIEGE SCENE—RESTORED
Con-
tinuous
design :
land, sea,
and con-
ventional
reticula-
tion for
shallows.
bosses below it similarly plated, on being pieced together were seen to stand
in relation to a curved handle, also of plated bronze, that rose from it, like
that of the tall conical ' rhyton ' of steatite found at Hagia Triada, exhibiting
bull-grappling and boxing scenes. Unfortunately, however, this obvious
parallel was not perceived by the then Director of the Museum, Dr. V. Stais,
when, on the basis of the existing fragments, he carried out a restoration of
the vessel, though he rightly recognized it as belonging to the ' rhyton ' class.
It thus emerged from the restorer's hands as a bulging and lop-sided funnel,1
both uncouth and un-Minoan, and in its ' telescoped ' form incompatible with
the development of its figured designs.
That the vessel belonged to the elongated conical class of ■' rhytons'
could not be doubted and, at my request, Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils,
executed with his usual skill and acumen the restored drawings here for the
first time reproduced2 (Fig. 50, a, b, c). The body of the vessel is
33-5 centimetres high (13I in.), and has a diameter of 13 cm. at the mouth.
The H. Triada example is c. 42 cm. high and 15 cm. wide at the mouth.
In the method of applying the decoration the silver 'rhyton' stands by
itself. In the latter case and that of other more fragmentary steatite speci-
mens the vessel is divided into zones, each with its separate frieze of reliefs.
Here the composition, as far as it is possible to judge, formed one con-
tinuous design, starting from the corallines and the reticulated conventional
rock-work at its base, and working up, with a wavy coastline and interspaces
of open sea, to the purely natural delineation of the central theme—the
besieged hill city seen above.
The contrast between the reticulated relief work, so richly decorative
in its effect, that ascends the body of the vase, with the level surface
embraced by it that stands for the sea recalls, in a different sphere, the
reserved spaces of sky that open behind the variegated over-arching rocks
of the ' Blue Bird' fresco.3 The conventional network itself, symbolical, not
only of rocks, but, as we see by the swimmers above it, of the shallow sea,
finds an even more direct analogy in the painted design on a pear-shaped
' rhyton ' from Pseira,4 where dolphins appear in the interspaces.
1 V. Stais, Catalogue de la Collection My-
cinienne (1915), pp. 223, 224, and Plate; also
Ath. Mitth. (1915), p. 45 seqq., and Plates
VII, VIII.
2 The restored drawings (Fig. 50, a, b, c),
together with Figs. 51-54, were executed for
me (with the kind permission of the late
Dr. Stais), by Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils.
I have to thank Mr. A. J. B. Wace, then
Director of the British School, Mr. R. M.
Dawkins, and Dr. G. Karo of the German
Institute for their valuable co-operation in
this work.
3 P. of M., ii, Pt. II, Coloured Plate XI.
1 Ibid., p. 509, Fig. 312,/(Seager, Excava-
tions at Pseira, p. 29, Fig. 10).
Con-
tinuous
design :
land, sea,
and con-
ventional
reticula-
tion for
shallows.
bosses below it similarly plated, on being pieced together were seen to stand
in relation to a curved handle, also of plated bronze, that rose from it, like
that of the tall conical ' rhyton ' of steatite found at Hagia Triada, exhibiting
bull-grappling and boxing scenes. Unfortunately, however, this obvious
parallel was not perceived by the then Director of the Museum, Dr. V. Stais,
when, on the basis of the existing fragments, he carried out a restoration of
the vessel, though he rightly recognized it as belonging to the ' rhyton ' class.
It thus emerged from the restorer's hands as a bulging and lop-sided funnel,1
both uncouth and un-Minoan, and in its ' telescoped ' form incompatible with
the development of its figured designs.
That the vessel belonged to the elongated conical class of ■' rhytons'
could not be doubted and, at my request, Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils,
executed with his usual skill and acumen the restored drawings here for the
first time reproduced2 (Fig. 50, a, b, c). The body of the vessel is
33-5 centimetres high (13I in.), and has a diameter of 13 cm. at the mouth.
The H. Triada example is c. 42 cm. high and 15 cm. wide at the mouth.
In the method of applying the decoration the silver 'rhyton' stands by
itself. In the latter case and that of other more fragmentary steatite speci-
mens the vessel is divided into zones, each with its separate frieze of reliefs.
Here the composition, as far as it is possible to judge, formed one con-
tinuous design, starting from the corallines and the reticulated conventional
rock-work at its base, and working up, with a wavy coastline and interspaces
of open sea, to the purely natural delineation of the central theme—the
besieged hill city seen above.
The contrast between the reticulated relief work, so richly decorative
in its effect, that ascends the body of the vase, with the level surface
embraced by it that stands for the sea recalls, in a different sphere, the
reserved spaces of sky that open behind the variegated over-arching rocks
of the ' Blue Bird' fresco.3 The conventional network itself, symbolical, not
only of rocks, but, as we see by the swimmers above it, of the shallow sea,
finds an even more direct analogy in the painted design on a pear-shaped
' rhyton ' from Pseira,4 where dolphins appear in the interspaces.
1 V. Stais, Catalogue de la Collection My-
cinienne (1915), pp. 223, 224, and Plate; also
Ath. Mitth. (1915), p. 45 seqq., and Plates
VII, VIII.
2 The restored drawings (Fig. 50, a, b, c),
together with Figs. 51-54, were executed for
me (with the kind permission of the late
Dr. Stais), by Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils.
I have to thank Mr. A. J. B. Wace, then
Director of the British School, Mr. R. M.
Dawkins, and Dr. G. Karo of the German
Institute for their valuable co-operation in
this work.
3 P. of M., ii, Pt. II, Coloured Plate XI.
1 Ibid., p. 509, Fig. 312,/(Seager, Excava-
tions at Pseira, p. 29, Fig. 10).