DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0020
xviii THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
seal impression depicting a flying dove,1 the perspective rendering of the
parrot wrasse,2 or the flying-fish that might have been taken from the Phyla-
kopi fresco. One of the most strange examples is the calf's head as dressed
for the table.3 A long Cretan pedigree may be traced for many of the
types here collected, going back in cases, as in the trophies of the chase
slung on poles, to Early Minoan models. Among such motives is the
wounded quarry, which later takes the sensational form of the animal vainly
endeavouring to extract the lethal shaft, so finely exemplified by the gold
bead-seal from the Third Shaft Grave at Mycenae. On a gem here
illustrated it is applied to a painfully realistic figure of a calf.4 Finally, as
in the case of a seated lion, the attitude of the wounded animal is preserved,
but the shaft omitted. Special attention is also called to a series of
designs, such as the cow licking her calf or her own hind foot, scratching
her nose or biting at a fly on her flank—in their character pure genre—
which are literally copied as Greek coin-types,5
A group of deposits, here described,0 of clay seal impressions found in
association with the latest remains of the Palace has now supplied a secure
chronological basis (L. M. II) for a whole series of intaglio types—just as
those from the Temple Repositories and allied sources had made it possible
to assign an earlier series to the closing M. M. Ill phase. One recurring
feature of the later class is the greater adaptation of the design to the
face of the stone—at times at the expense of a certain contortion of the
animal figures—and the frequent occurrence of outgrowths of the ' antithetic '
scheme, such as single-headed monsters, crossed and double-bodied. As
a cultural symptom there is a marked prominence of bucolic motives, among
them a boy milking a cow, another leading the animal, and a part of what
really looks like a spectator leaning over a fence to survey a prize ox.7
Among the impressions of gold signets from these hoards the types of the
lion-guarded Goddess, and the indications of a free-standing sculptural
group of the lions with their fore-feet on a pyramidal cairn, are of special
religious interest.s
1 Ft. II., p. 490, Fig. 424; from H. Triada. 560-2, Figs. 523-C, and 528.
Cf. D. Levi, Le Cref.uk dl Ilagia Triada, 6Vc,, ° For the catalogue, see p 60 c seqq.. and
p. 27, Fig 52. for select illustrations, see pp. 608, 609, rig.
- lb., p. 494, Fig. 430. 597,\, u.
1 lb., p. 49r, Fig. 425. ' See p. 564, Figs. 532-4.
' See p. 543, Fig. 493 and cf. Fig. 49!). 8 See p. 60S seqq.
8 //'., pp. 558, 559, Figs. 520, 521, and pp.
seal impression depicting a flying dove,1 the perspective rendering of the
parrot wrasse,2 or the flying-fish that might have been taken from the Phyla-
kopi fresco. One of the most strange examples is the calf's head as dressed
for the table.3 A long Cretan pedigree may be traced for many of the
types here collected, going back in cases, as in the trophies of the chase
slung on poles, to Early Minoan models. Among such motives is the
wounded quarry, which later takes the sensational form of the animal vainly
endeavouring to extract the lethal shaft, so finely exemplified by the gold
bead-seal from the Third Shaft Grave at Mycenae. On a gem here
illustrated it is applied to a painfully realistic figure of a calf.4 Finally, as
in the case of a seated lion, the attitude of the wounded animal is preserved,
but the shaft omitted. Special attention is also called to a series of
designs, such as the cow licking her calf or her own hind foot, scratching
her nose or biting at a fly on her flank—in their character pure genre—
which are literally copied as Greek coin-types,5
A group of deposits, here described,0 of clay seal impressions found in
association with the latest remains of the Palace has now supplied a secure
chronological basis (L. M. II) for a whole series of intaglio types—just as
those from the Temple Repositories and allied sources had made it possible
to assign an earlier series to the closing M. M. Ill phase. One recurring
feature of the later class is the greater adaptation of the design to the
face of the stone—at times at the expense of a certain contortion of the
animal figures—and the frequent occurrence of outgrowths of the ' antithetic '
scheme, such as single-headed monsters, crossed and double-bodied. As
a cultural symptom there is a marked prominence of bucolic motives, among
them a boy milking a cow, another leading the animal, and a part of what
really looks like a spectator leaning over a fence to survey a prize ox.7
Among the impressions of gold signets from these hoards the types of the
lion-guarded Goddess, and the indications of a free-standing sculptural
group of the lions with their fore-feet on a pyramidal cairn, are of special
religious interest.s
1 Ft. II., p. 490, Fig. 424; from H. Triada. 560-2, Figs. 523-C, and 528.
Cf. D. Levi, Le Cref.uk dl Ilagia Triada, 6Vc,, ° For the catalogue, see p 60 c seqq.. and
p. 27, Fig 52. for select illustrations, see pp. 608, 609, rig.
- lb., p. 494, Fig. 430. 597,\, u.
1 lb., p. 49r, Fig. 425. ' See p. 564, Figs. 532-4.
' See p. 543, Fig. 493 and cf. Fig. 49!). 8 See p. 60S seqq.
8 //'., pp. 558, 559, Figs. 520, 521, and pp.