DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0155
u8 INLAID LION-HUNTING SCENE ON DAGGER
separate
panels of
fresco
techni-
que.
itself if we regard it as a reflection of the conditions of the Minoan wall-
painters' art. For reasons connected with the rapid procedure involved in
true fresco painting on the still moist lime-plaster1 it was necessary to break
up the wall space into manageable panels. In the case of the Vapheio
Cups, indeed, as it is hoped to show in a succeeding Section, the triple
division visible in both of the designs2 may go back to the architectural
causes conditioning the setting out of great plastic prototypes that had
originally run above to triple bastions on either side of the Northern Entrance
Passage of the Knossian Palace.
Lion-hunt
on My-
cenae
dagger.
Succes-
sive
stages in
execu-
tion.
The Lion-hunting Scene on Dagger-blade.
The noblest of all pictorial designs in inlaid metal-work is supplied by
the blade representing Minoan warriors, armed as if for war with bow and
lance, and protected by great body-shields, attacking a troop of lions.
In this case, again, the successive stages by which this masterpiece of
metal inlaying was brought to completion are admirably illustrated by the
drawings executed for me by Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils, in Fig. 70, i, n, in.3
I here resume the results of Monsieur Gillieron's study.
Fig. 70, i, shows the bronze blade, in which the designs were sunk to
a depth of half a millimetre. In Fig. 70, n, are indicated the inlays of thin
gold (faintly shaded) and silver (plain white) cut out and hammered into the
slightly sunken field—a kind of work for which there are many examples
from Ancient Egypt. The surface was afterwards polished to make the
blade smooth and to remove the hammer marks, of which some traces, how-
ever, remain; the blade itself was oxidized so as to form a kind of blackish
brown patina, and this hard surface helped to contain the inlaid plates.
This is reproduced by the dark grey tint of the blade.
As illustrated by Fig. 70, in, the plates were then engraved with a finely
pointed instrument (burin) so as to supply the details and outlines of the
scene, the engraved parts being brought out through the introduction of
niello, here rendered as black. The gold of the lances is redder than that
used for the warriors' bodies, the difference in hue being due to an admixture
of copper. The great bull's-hide shield with its prominent boss has its
characteristic quatrefoil spots inlaid with dark niello on the silver field as
1 See Mr. Noel Heaton's observations, Karo's careful observations in Arch. Anzeiger,
P. of At., i, p. 528. 1903, P- 159. He was of the opinion that
2 See below, p.177 seqq. there were traces among the inlays of iron
s For a technical account of the inlays of oxide.
this blade I must also refer to Dr. G.
separate
panels of
fresco
techni-
que.
itself if we regard it as a reflection of the conditions of the Minoan wall-
painters' art. For reasons connected with the rapid procedure involved in
true fresco painting on the still moist lime-plaster1 it was necessary to break
up the wall space into manageable panels. In the case of the Vapheio
Cups, indeed, as it is hoped to show in a succeeding Section, the triple
division visible in both of the designs2 may go back to the architectural
causes conditioning the setting out of great plastic prototypes that had
originally run above to triple bastions on either side of the Northern Entrance
Passage of the Knossian Palace.
Lion-hunt
on My-
cenae
dagger.
Succes-
sive
stages in
execu-
tion.
The Lion-hunting Scene on Dagger-blade.
The noblest of all pictorial designs in inlaid metal-work is supplied by
the blade representing Minoan warriors, armed as if for war with bow and
lance, and protected by great body-shields, attacking a troop of lions.
In this case, again, the successive stages by which this masterpiece of
metal inlaying was brought to completion are admirably illustrated by the
drawings executed for me by Monsieur E. Gillieron, fils, in Fig. 70, i, n, in.3
I here resume the results of Monsieur Gillieron's study.
Fig. 70, i, shows the bronze blade, in which the designs were sunk to
a depth of half a millimetre. In Fig. 70, n, are indicated the inlays of thin
gold (faintly shaded) and silver (plain white) cut out and hammered into the
slightly sunken field—a kind of work for which there are many examples
from Ancient Egypt. The surface was afterwards polished to make the
blade smooth and to remove the hammer marks, of which some traces, how-
ever, remain; the blade itself was oxidized so as to form a kind of blackish
brown patina, and this hard surface helped to contain the inlaid plates.
This is reproduced by the dark grey tint of the blade.
As illustrated by Fig. 70, in, the plates were then engraved with a finely
pointed instrument (burin) so as to supply the details and outlines of the
scene, the engraved parts being brought out through the introduction of
niello, here rendered as black. The gold of the lances is redder than that
used for the warriors' bodies, the difference in hue being due to an admixture
of copper. The great bull's-hide shield with its prominent boss has its
characteristic quatrefoil spots inlaid with dark niello on the silver field as
1 See Mr. Noel Heaton's observations, Karo's careful observations in Arch. Anzeiger,
P. of At., i, p. 528. 1903, P- 159. He was of the opinion that
2 See below, p.177 seqq. there were traces among the inlays of iron
s For a technical account of the inlays of oxide.
this blade I must also refer to Dr. G.