DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0330
2S4 CRETAN ELEMENTS ON FINE MYCENAE 'AMPHORA'
Fine
Mycenae
' am-
phora'
with
purely
Mine-ail
designs.
breakable vessels would have been made at or near the spots where they
were found. It has already been noted, indeed, with regard to smaller
vessels, that a widely distributed class of thin-walled M. M. JI bowls with
repousse reliefs from cockle-shell moulds, were probably the work of itinerant
potters who had brought their moulds with them from the centre of the fabric.
On the other hand, the occurrence of Minoan pots of small or medium
size on Egyptian sites, where good potter's clay was not at hand, may be
regarded as sufficient evidence of transportation from overseas. The larger
vessels, such as Late Minoan jars and ' amphoras', are not found there.
A striking example of the detailed reproduction of decorative features
that are the characteristic product of a Cretan school is afforded by what
is perhaps the most splendid of all painted vases found on the site of
Mycenae (Fig. 216).> The lily frieze on this and the foliate scrolls—here
linked with an antecedent stage of the Waz-X\\y type—seen above and
below, present the closest points of resemblance with the designs on the
ewer from Palaikastro, Fig. 217.- A certain ' contamination' with the
'marine' style is evidenced in both cases by the conventional rocks above and
below with scraps of sea-tang adhering, and by the ornamentalized ' brittle-
stars' with their curving rays inserted in the field. A very similar foliate
scroll with both the conventionalized rock-work above and the brittle-stars,
and terminating itself in a coil composed of rock and sea-weed, appears on
a fragment of a vase from Knossos (Fig. 218). All three vases-are thus
marked as part of a collective group. It is also further noteworthy that
the Palaikastro vase, which is of metallic derivation, answers in type to the
' Marseilles ewer', the Knossian origin of which has already been suggested.
This ' amphora' must be with great probability regarded as of Knossian fabric
and was found with Fig. 262 (p. 321 below) in the incipient ' Palace style'.
Bead
festoons
derived
from
toilette
Origin of Bead Festoons and Crocus Pendants on L. M. 11/ Vases from the
' Toilette ' Frescoes of the M. M. Ill Palace at Knossos.
In connexion with the survival of older decorative elements on the
walls may be noticed the echo among the varied designs of the L. M. I 0
ceramic group of what is clearly, as pointed out in Vol. II,3 an adaptation
1 From J. H. S., xxiv, PI. XIII, as restored
by Mr. Malfvor Bagge tinder (Sir) Tohn Mar-
shall's direction. It was found in a chamber
tomb at Mycenae (see below, § ir6), and was
published [pp. cii., pp. 322, 323) by Professor
R. C. Bosanquet.
'- Unpublished objects from Palaikastro
Excavations, 1923, p. 46, Fig. 35. It was
there, according to the earli
classification, ascribed to L. M
' P. a/3/., ii, Pt. II, p. 427.
er system of
Fine
Mycenae
' am-
phora'
with
purely
Mine-ail
designs.
breakable vessels would have been made at or near the spots where they
were found. It has already been noted, indeed, with regard to smaller
vessels, that a widely distributed class of thin-walled M. M. JI bowls with
repousse reliefs from cockle-shell moulds, were probably the work of itinerant
potters who had brought their moulds with them from the centre of the fabric.
On the other hand, the occurrence of Minoan pots of small or medium
size on Egyptian sites, where good potter's clay was not at hand, may be
regarded as sufficient evidence of transportation from overseas. The larger
vessels, such as Late Minoan jars and ' amphoras', are not found there.
A striking example of the detailed reproduction of decorative features
that are the characteristic product of a Cretan school is afforded by what
is perhaps the most splendid of all painted vases found on the site of
Mycenae (Fig. 216).> The lily frieze on this and the foliate scrolls—here
linked with an antecedent stage of the Waz-X\\y type—seen above and
below, present the closest points of resemblance with the designs on the
ewer from Palaikastro, Fig. 217.- A certain ' contamination' with the
'marine' style is evidenced in both cases by the conventional rocks above and
below with scraps of sea-tang adhering, and by the ornamentalized ' brittle-
stars' with their curving rays inserted in the field. A very similar foliate
scroll with both the conventionalized rock-work above and the brittle-stars,
and terminating itself in a coil composed of rock and sea-weed, appears on
a fragment of a vase from Knossos (Fig. 218). All three vases-are thus
marked as part of a collective group. It is also further noteworthy that
the Palaikastro vase, which is of metallic derivation, answers in type to the
' Marseilles ewer', the Knossian origin of which has already been suggested.
This ' amphora' must be with great probability regarded as of Knossian fabric
and was found with Fig. 262 (p. 321 below) in the incipient ' Palace style'.
Bead
festoons
derived
from
toilette
Origin of Bead Festoons and Crocus Pendants on L. M. 11/ Vases from the
' Toilette ' Frescoes of the M. M. Ill Palace at Knossos.
In connexion with the survival of older decorative elements on the
walls may be noticed the echo among the varied designs of the L. M. I 0
ceramic group of what is clearly, as pointed out in Vol. II,3 an adaptation
1 From J. H. S., xxiv, PI. XIII, as restored
by Mr. Malfvor Bagge tinder (Sir) Tohn Mar-
shall's direction. It was found in a chamber
tomb at Mycenae (see below, § ir6), and was
published [pp. cii., pp. 322, 323) by Professor
R. C. Bosanquet.
'- Unpublished objects from Palaikastro
Excavations, 1923, p. 46, Fig. 35. It was
there, according to the earli
classification, ascribed to L. M
' P. a/3/., ii, Pt. II, p. 427.
er system of