Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 4,1): Emergence of outer western enceinte, with new illustrations, artistic and religious, of the Middle Minoan Phase (London, 1935)

270

CLAY ALABASTRON FROM SEDMENT

Fig 200 b. Sacral Adder Mark on
Rim or Sedment Alabastron.

vessels carried by the men of
Keftiu in the later tombs
of this series are substantially
the same as those of the
earlier group that begins with
that of Senmut.

The Cretan envoys bear-
ing examples of Minoan
metal-work that reached a
higher artistic level than any-
thing that Egypt was able to
produce, may well be thought
to have in practice carried
out a commercial propaganda
in bringing these fineproducts
before the notice of Pharaoh's
high officers. ' Keftiu work''
was naturally sought after
and as—partly owing to the
inferiority of the Egyptian
potter's clay—the ceramic
fabrics of Crete were also of
a superior quality, the evi-
dence of the import of painted
vases from that side becomes
relatively more abundant.
The style of these vessels
answers to the finest L. M. I b
class, and the period to which
they belong", corresponding
with the dates of the succes-
siveMissions to Senmut's suc-
cessors, covers the whole oi the
long reign of Thothmes III.
and may be roughly set clown
as the first half of the Fif-
teenth Century B.C.

1 P. a/M., ii, Pt. II, p. 536 (see Lepsius, Dcnkmakr, xxx a, 18, and cf. W. Max Mailer,
Asien und Europa, p. 35S).

Fig. 200 a. Clay Alabastron from Sedment
(Herakleopolis), with Imitation of Alabaster
Veins.