DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0156
ORIGINS OF 'MARINE STYLE' IN M. M. I a 115
appears in Fig". SO,/;. On the contemporary pedestal of a 'fruit-dish'
(Fig- 8°. c)—a'so fr°m Knossos—though the two bosses are here retained
the apex is simplified by the omission of the coil.
In this type we may recognize a conventionalized design of a sea-shell
in general, embracing both the univalve and bivalve classes of mollusc.
When we recall in another field such composite plant creations as reeds
terminating above in glorified papyrus tufts of varied hues and with flowers
of Cretan stock inserted between their stems, it is hard to set definite
limits to the eclectic system that found favour with the Minoan artists.
Heterogeneous elements are in the same way united in the case of butter-
flies, and the gold ball seen between the 'bees' on the Mallia jewel' may
itself represent the pellet of the Sacred Beetle.
Early Development of ' Marine Style '.
What has been said above—largely the result of recent discoveries and Develop-
observations—will help to set in their true perspective certain salient 'Marine
characteristics of the latest Middle Minoan phase. style *
. . . begins 111
The many-sided development of the ' marine style' which there strikes M. M. I a.
the eye, and indeed must be regarded as a dominant characteristic of that
Period, is after all a more intensive manifestation of tendencies that have
left their mark from the earliest Middle Minoan stage onwards. It has
been noticed above that somewhat rude designs of fish and sea-tang
already appear on polychrome vessels of mature M. M. I a date.2
The unique profusion of natural representations of this class visible in
this later stage, modelled in porcelain as well as clay, and painted on the walls
as well as on vases, engraved on gems, and actually moulded from sea-shells
and other marine objects, had much earlier antecedents. The master-
pieces of the ' Marine style', such as the Dolphin and Flying-fish frescoes,
and small reliefs like the ' Ambushed Octopus' on the steatite ' rhyton '
from Knossos,3 surpass in naturalism anything that had yet been achieved
in this branch of Art. But the clay seal-impressions found in the ' Hiero-
glyphic Deposit', of a date not later than the close of M. M. II, already
exhibit an advance on the same lines, which at the moment of their discovery,
and in the absence of any parallel designs of the same epoch, made it difficult
to believe that they did not belong to the succeeding M. M. Ill phase.
With the definite data now before us, there is no need for further
hesitation- as to the relatively early date of these works. The actual
' See above, pp. 75, 76, and Fig. 48. ■ Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 227, lug. 130; ii, Pt. II,
■ P. o/M., i, p. 182, Fig. 181, a,b. p. 503, Fig. 307.
appears in Fig". SO,/;. On the contemporary pedestal of a 'fruit-dish'
(Fig- 8°. c)—a'so fr°m Knossos—though the two bosses are here retained
the apex is simplified by the omission of the coil.
In this type we may recognize a conventionalized design of a sea-shell
in general, embracing both the univalve and bivalve classes of mollusc.
When we recall in another field such composite plant creations as reeds
terminating above in glorified papyrus tufts of varied hues and with flowers
of Cretan stock inserted between their stems, it is hard to set definite
limits to the eclectic system that found favour with the Minoan artists.
Heterogeneous elements are in the same way united in the case of butter-
flies, and the gold ball seen between the 'bees' on the Mallia jewel' may
itself represent the pellet of the Sacred Beetle.
Early Development of ' Marine Style '.
What has been said above—largely the result of recent discoveries and Develop-
observations—will help to set in their true perspective certain salient 'Marine
characteristics of the latest Middle Minoan phase. style *
. . . begins 111
The many-sided development of the ' marine style' which there strikes M. M. I a.
the eye, and indeed must be regarded as a dominant characteristic of that
Period, is after all a more intensive manifestation of tendencies that have
left their mark from the earliest Middle Minoan stage onwards. It has
been noticed above that somewhat rude designs of fish and sea-tang
already appear on polychrome vessels of mature M. M. I a date.2
The unique profusion of natural representations of this class visible in
this later stage, modelled in porcelain as well as clay, and painted on the walls
as well as on vases, engraved on gems, and actually moulded from sea-shells
and other marine objects, had much earlier antecedents. The master-
pieces of the ' Marine style', such as the Dolphin and Flying-fish frescoes,
and small reliefs like the ' Ambushed Octopus' on the steatite ' rhyton '
from Knossos,3 surpass in naturalism anything that had yet been achieved
in this branch of Art. But the clay seal-impressions found in the ' Hiero-
glyphic Deposit', of a date not later than the close of M. M. II, already
exhibit an advance on the same lines, which at the moment of their discovery,
and in the absence of any parallel designs of the same epoch, made it difficult
to believe that they did not belong to the succeeding M. M. Ill phase.
With the definite data now before us, there is no need for further
hesitation- as to the relatively early date of these works. The actual
' See above, pp. 75, 76, and Fig. 48. ■ Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 227, lug. 130; ii, Pt. II,
■ P. o/M., i, p. 182, Fig. 181, a,b. p. 503, Fig. 307.