DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0438
PAINTED CLAY BATH
385
The function of this small chamber—the interior section of which was Painted
only a little over two and a half metres square1—was clearly indicated by bath:
the discovery by its entrance, and in the adjoining section of the ' Megaron', L- M- •"•
Fig. 256. Painted Terra-cotta Bath of Last Period of the Palace (L. M. II),
partly restored. (interior measurement, length, above 1-295 m., below, 1-04' m. ;
Greatest Height 50 cm.)
of remains of a painted clay bath that had been evidently thrown out at the
time when the floor had been made use of for the storage of lime. It is
shown reconstructed in what was probably its original position in Fig. 255,
and a detailed drawing is given in Fig. 256. As will be seen from this its
exterior decoration is a characteristic example of an advanced phase of the
L. M. II ceramic style. Its central band repeats an ornamental derivative
of a ' papyriform ' motive: the waved striations above and below this them-
selves originate in veined stonework. In the interior are traces of designs
of tufts of reeds, arid that this is an old tradition of Minoan baths appears
from the similar clumps that adorn the exterior of the bath-tub of M. M. Ill b
date, found in the little room near the ' Magazine of Lily Vases '.2 As in
the case of the reeds and swimming fishes painted inside the ' wash-basins '
of Phylakopi,3 and again in the grasses round the Minoan flower-pots
described above,4 the decorative motive has a special appropriateness to the
object itself.
Reed
decora-
tion on
baths.
1 2-32 metres N.-S. by
Plan, Fig. 253).
2 P. of M., i, p. 580,
below, Fig. 257.
III.
2-41 m. E.-W. (see 3 For the Melian 'washing basins' see
Phylakopi, p. 140, Figs. 112, 113. (Cf. P. of
Fig. 424, and see M., i, p. 598.)
* See above,pp. 278, 279andFigs. 186,187.
c c
385
The function of this small chamber—the interior section of which was Painted
only a little over two and a half metres square1—was clearly indicated by bath:
the discovery by its entrance, and in the adjoining section of the ' Megaron', L- M- •"•
Fig. 256. Painted Terra-cotta Bath of Last Period of the Palace (L. M. II),
partly restored. (interior measurement, length, above 1-295 m., below, 1-04' m. ;
Greatest Height 50 cm.)
of remains of a painted clay bath that had been evidently thrown out at the
time when the floor had been made use of for the storage of lime. It is
shown reconstructed in what was probably its original position in Fig. 255,
and a detailed drawing is given in Fig. 256. As will be seen from this its
exterior decoration is a characteristic example of an advanced phase of the
L. M. II ceramic style. Its central band repeats an ornamental derivative
of a ' papyriform ' motive: the waved striations above and below this them-
selves originate in veined stonework. In the interior are traces of designs
of tufts of reeds, arid that this is an old tradition of Minoan baths appears
from the similar clumps that adorn the exterior of the bath-tub of M. M. Ill b
date, found in the little room near the ' Magazine of Lily Vases '.2 As in
the case of the reeds and swimming fishes painted inside the ' wash-basins '
of Phylakopi,3 and again in the grasses round the Minoan flower-pots
described above,4 the decorative motive has a special appropriateness to the
object itself.
Reed
decora-
tion on
baths.
1 2-32 metres N.-S. by
Plan, Fig. 253).
2 P. of M., i, p. 580,
below, Fig. 257.
III.
2-41 m. E.-W. (see 3 For the Melian 'washing basins' see
Phylakopi, p. 140, Figs. 112, 113. (Cf. P. of
Fig. 424, and see M., i, p. 598.)
* See above,pp. 278, 279andFigs. 186,187.
c c