DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0482
THE LEAPING YOUTH
429
the veins on the back of the hand and even the finger-nails are minutely
rendered. The curiously extended thumb is a conventional Minoan trait.
The most remarkable of these figures belongs to a series of at least three The.
similar youths in the act of leaping, with the head thrown back and extended youth:
arms.1 Only in one case, however, was enough of the trunk preserved to "SJ^jg
allow the reconstitution of the whole figure, which was approximately <**»of
figure.
Fig, 295. Ivory Arm of Leaping Youth (§).
29/9 centimetres (about nf inches) in height (Fig. 296). The waist alone
was here wanting and has been supplied in wax: it had doubtless been
surrounded by a metal girdle.2 The natural treatment of the individual
parts of the limbs and body is everywhere apparent. The well-set arms and
shoulders and strongly developed pectoral muscles point to careful physical
training, and the limbs, though slender, reveal great sinewy force.
The life, the freedom, the dlan of this ivory figure is nothing short of
marvellous and in some respects seems to overpass the limits of the sculptor's
art. The graceful fling of the legs and arms, the backward bend of the
head and body, give a sense of untrammelled motion, to a certain extent
attainable in painting or relief, but which it is hard to reconcile with the
fixity of position inherent in statuary in the round. How were such figures
supported ? Not certainly by their taper feet or delicate fingers. It may
be conjectured that they were in each case actually suspended in a downward-
slanting position from the girdle by means of fine gold wires or chains, recalling
in this the amorini of Hellenistic jewellery and terra-cottas.
The girdle itself, like the flowing locks of hair, originally, as we shall chryseie-
see, attached to the head, was probably of bronze with a gold plating. The Art"tine
loin-cloth—which was certainly not wanting—may have been supplied by
thin gold plating, some of which was found with the figures. The work in
fact was chryselephantine, and the further question suggests itself, may not
1 When found the fragments were in a very
friable condition, but they were at once soaked
in a solution of wax and paraffin at high tem-
perature. By this means a good deal of their
original consistency was restored, and the
surface at the same time cleared of impurities.
2 Cf. A. E., Knossos, Report (1902), pp. 72,
73. The earthquake of 1926 again broke
the figure into two halves, but the restoration
was easy.
429
the veins on the back of the hand and even the finger-nails are minutely
rendered. The curiously extended thumb is a conventional Minoan trait.
The most remarkable of these figures belongs to a series of at least three The.
similar youths in the act of leaping, with the head thrown back and extended youth:
arms.1 Only in one case, however, was enough of the trunk preserved to "SJ^jg
allow the reconstitution of the whole figure, which was approximately <**»of
figure.
Fig, 295. Ivory Arm of Leaping Youth (§).
29/9 centimetres (about nf inches) in height (Fig. 296). The waist alone
was here wanting and has been supplied in wax: it had doubtless been
surrounded by a metal girdle.2 The natural treatment of the individual
parts of the limbs and body is everywhere apparent. The well-set arms and
shoulders and strongly developed pectoral muscles point to careful physical
training, and the limbs, though slender, reveal great sinewy force.
The life, the freedom, the dlan of this ivory figure is nothing short of
marvellous and in some respects seems to overpass the limits of the sculptor's
art. The graceful fling of the legs and arms, the backward bend of the
head and body, give a sense of untrammelled motion, to a certain extent
attainable in painting or relief, but which it is hard to reconcile with the
fixity of position inherent in statuary in the round. How were such figures
supported ? Not certainly by their taper feet or delicate fingers. It may
be conjectured that they were in each case actually suspended in a downward-
slanting position from the girdle by means of fine gold wires or chains, recalling
in this the amorini of Hellenistic jewellery and terra-cottas.
The girdle itself, like the flowing locks of hair, originally, as we shall chryseie-
see, attached to the head, was probably of bronze with a gold plating. The Art"tine
loin-cloth—which was certainly not wanting—may have been supplied by
thin gold plating, some of which was found with the figures. The work in
fact was chryselephantine, and the further question suggests itself, may not
1 When found the fragments were in a very
friable condition, but they were at once soaked
in a solution of wax and paraffin at high tem-
perature. By this means a good deal of their
original consistency was restored, and the
surface at the same time cleared of impurities.
2 Cf. A. E., Knossos, Report (1902), pp. 72,
73. The earthquake of 1926 again broke
the figure into two halves, but the restoration
was easy.