DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0144
BARBOTINE COMBINED WITH POLYCHROME IN M.M. 1 b 105
have been a good deal broken, but which on the other hand show a rough
patch on the crown where barnacles (now broken off) had attached them-
selves. The frequent occurrence here and
elsewhere of this species among the refuse heaps
of Knossos shows that the ' thorny oyster' was
a favourite article of food.-
Similar suggestions are also supplied by the
'thorn-back' crab common on the neighbour-
ing Aegean shore, a modern carapace of which
is given in Fig. 71.1 The back of this is
covered with warts like a toad, and shows
thorny excrescences round the margin. Spine-
less sea-urchins would have afforded another
convenient model, as well as the prickly ridges
of the abundant pecten-shells. Such ridges are
sometimes arranged herring-bone fashion as on
the beaked spout, Fig. 72. On the pedestal,
Fig. 73, b they serve as the stalks of leaves.
That this ' barbotine' technique was due to
the actual imitation of the prickly or corrugated
surface of certain familiar marine objects is
borne out by the fact that it was actually applied by the Minoan potters
to individual designs of such. A clear instance is supplied, in the curiously
composite representation of a shell type given below on a M. M. I b
polychrome vessel from the Kamares Cave, where the corrugations of the
whorls are indicated by means of rows of small prickly lumps attached to
the surface (see Fig. SO, a).2
The ' barbotine ' technique, thus evolved, was now combined by the
M. M. Id potters with the brilliant polychromy that had grown up pari
passu with it. Fragmentary examples of this are given in Fig. 73, a—d.
Of all practically complete vessels in this combined style, the palm must
still be given to the beak-spouted jug—found with parts of the pedestals of
two of the polychrome ' fruit-stands ' so characteristic of this epoch—of which
a coloured reproduction is given on PI. XXVIII, a. It will be seen that the
beak shows a serrated edge like Fig. 72. On the centre of the side of
Thorn-
back
crab.
Serrated Beak of
Ewer.
This
' prickle '
technique
used in
shell
designs.
Fine
combina-
tion of
' barbo-
tine ' and
early
poly-
chromy
on M. M.
I* jug.
1 This specimen, as is often the case, has picted is St. George and the Dragon,
been used to' contain in its interior a small - P. 114 below. The appearance of the
ikon or religious picture of the kind that prickles in relief is shown on the margin
pilgrims purchase. The subject here de- of the drawing.
have been a good deal broken, but which on the other hand show a rough
patch on the crown where barnacles (now broken off) had attached them-
selves. The frequent occurrence here and
elsewhere of this species among the refuse heaps
of Knossos shows that the ' thorny oyster' was
a favourite article of food.-
Similar suggestions are also supplied by the
'thorn-back' crab common on the neighbour-
ing Aegean shore, a modern carapace of which
is given in Fig. 71.1 The back of this is
covered with warts like a toad, and shows
thorny excrescences round the margin. Spine-
less sea-urchins would have afforded another
convenient model, as well as the prickly ridges
of the abundant pecten-shells. Such ridges are
sometimes arranged herring-bone fashion as on
the beaked spout, Fig. 72. On the pedestal,
Fig. 73, b they serve as the stalks of leaves.
That this ' barbotine' technique was due to
the actual imitation of the prickly or corrugated
surface of certain familiar marine objects is
borne out by the fact that it was actually applied by the Minoan potters
to individual designs of such. A clear instance is supplied, in the curiously
composite representation of a shell type given below on a M. M. I b
polychrome vessel from the Kamares Cave, where the corrugations of the
whorls are indicated by means of rows of small prickly lumps attached to
the surface (see Fig. SO, a).2
The ' barbotine ' technique, thus evolved, was now combined by the
M. M. Id potters with the brilliant polychromy that had grown up pari
passu with it. Fragmentary examples of this are given in Fig. 73, a—d.
Of all practically complete vessels in this combined style, the palm must
still be given to the beak-spouted jug—found with parts of the pedestals of
two of the polychrome ' fruit-stands ' so characteristic of this epoch—of which
a coloured reproduction is given on PI. XXVIII, a. It will be seen that the
beak shows a serrated edge like Fig. 72. On the centre of the side of
Thorn-
back
crab.
Serrated Beak of
Ewer.
This
' prickle '
technique
used in
shell
designs.
Fine
combina-
tion of
' barbo-
tine ' and
early
poly-
chromy
on M. M.
I* jug.
1 This specimen, as is often the case, has picted is St. George and the Dragon,
been used to' contain in its interior a small - P. 114 below. The appearance of the
ikon or religious picture of the kind that prickles in relief is shown on the margin
pilgrims purchase. The subject here de- of the drawing.