DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0327
MAINLAND L.M. \6 GROUPS OF CRETAN DERIVATION 2S1
A similar marine grouping, including Argonauts, rocks with sea-tang
and the trifoliate motive—here with sea-grass attached—in a somewhat
advanced style is seen on the spouted bowl (Fig. 214) recently discovered
in a small sepulchral rock-chamber near the 'Temple-Tomb' at Knossos.
Its whole design may be described as of a more 'cursive' character and the
objects shown are less closely set together.
The 'amphora' (Fig. 215) is a rare example of a large vessel of this
class in the good 'marine' style from the Palace site at Knossos. It was
found outside the South-West angle of the building, where much ' Palace
Style' (L. M. II) pottery also came to light. This vase clearly cannot be
separated from the preceding L. M. I b class, though it fits on to the later
palatial series in the prominence given to the octopus. The attachment of the
arms is certainly clumsy, but they still intertwine according to the tradition
of the earlier naturalistic school, of which the 'ambushed octopus' is the
masterpiece. I n the L. M. 11 Period and onwards the arms are all separately
rendered.1 Here, as in the case of the transitional example Fig. 216, the
'amphora' has onlyone tierof handles, a falling away from three-tiered 'pithoid
amphora' type. In the succeedingL. M. II stage this limitation is universal.
Mainland L. M. I b Types of Cretan Derivation.
The appearance in the great sepulchral vault of Nestor's Pylos of the
masterpiece of the L.M. \b marine decoration, Fig. 213, every detail of sourcesol
which reflects the contemporary Knossian school of vase-painting, Mainland
and which itself represents the ' pithoid' type of Cretan evolution, is only
one of a series of parallel phenomena—some of them already noted—
illustrating the absolute dependence at this epoch of Mainland ceramic
forms on those of Minoan Crete. Amongst the whole magnificent group of
painted ' amphoras' from the Kakovatos tombs, there is not one design the
details of which cannot be paralleled from a Minoan source. Alternately we
see the conventionalized group of three palm-trees of M. M. II heritage and
its derivatives2 and of the ' Sacral Ivy'3 which reflects the still earlier borrow-
ing of the papyrus wand motive from Middle Empire Egypt. We see this
' ivy ' motive, moreover, both in its sacral and its purely vegetable form
and, again, as spun out into a remarkable ornamental creation of this epoch
to which attention has been already called—the ' Ogival Canopy '.* In other
cases, again, we find the sacred was symbol combined with the lily flower, as
1 For the octopods on ' Palace Style' Vases p. 496, Fig. 301.
see below, p. 305 seqq. " Ibid., p. 478 seqq.
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 493 seqq., and 4 IHd.} p. 4S9 seqq. and p. 492, Fig. 297.
A similar marine grouping, including Argonauts, rocks with sea-tang
and the trifoliate motive—here with sea-grass attached—in a somewhat
advanced style is seen on the spouted bowl (Fig. 214) recently discovered
in a small sepulchral rock-chamber near the 'Temple-Tomb' at Knossos.
Its whole design may be described as of a more 'cursive' character and the
objects shown are less closely set together.
The 'amphora' (Fig. 215) is a rare example of a large vessel of this
class in the good 'marine' style from the Palace site at Knossos. It was
found outside the South-West angle of the building, where much ' Palace
Style' (L. M. II) pottery also came to light. This vase clearly cannot be
separated from the preceding L. M. I b class, though it fits on to the later
palatial series in the prominence given to the octopus. The attachment of the
arms is certainly clumsy, but they still intertwine according to the tradition
of the earlier naturalistic school, of which the 'ambushed octopus' is the
masterpiece. I n the L. M. 11 Period and onwards the arms are all separately
rendered.1 Here, as in the case of the transitional example Fig. 216, the
'amphora' has onlyone tierof handles, a falling away from three-tiered 'pithoid
amphora' type. In the succeedingL. M. II stage this limitation is universal.
Mainland L. M. I b Types of Cretan Derivation.
The appearance in the great sepulchral vault of Nestor's Pylos of the
masterpiece of the L.M. \b marine decoration, Fig. 213, every detail of sourcesol
which reflects the contemporary Knossian school of vase-painting, Mainland
and which itself represents the ' pithoid' type of Cretan evolution, is only
one of a series of parallel phenomena—some of them already noted—
illustrating the absolute dependence at this epoch of Mainland ceramic
forms on those of Minoan Crete. Amongst the whole magnificent group of
painted ' amphoras' from the Kakovatos tombs, there is not one design the
details of which cannot be paralleled from a Minoan source. Alternately we
see the conventionalized group of three palm-trees of M. M. II heritage and
its derivatives2 and of the ' Sacral Ivy'3 which reflects the still earlier borrow-
ing of the papyrus wand motive from Middle Empire Egypt. We see this
' ivy ' motive, moreover, both in its sacral and its purely vegetable form
and, again, as spun out into a remarkable ornamental creation of this epoch
to which attention has been already called—the ' Ogival Canopy '.* In other
cases, again, we find the sacred was symbol combined with the lily flower, as
1 For the octopods on ' Palace Style' Vases p. 496, Fig. 301.
see below, p. 305 seqq. " Ibid., p. 478 seqq.
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 493 seqq., and 4 IHd.} p. 4S9 seqq. and p. 492, Fig. 297.