DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0133
NATURAL ELEMENT IN EARLY SCULPTURES 487
The conspicuous skill of the earlier Nilotic ivory carvers in portraying E. M.
clogs (see Fig. 413, a, 5l) is reflected in the couchant dog so admirably st^'iccom-
executed in relief on the steatite lid from Mochlos (Fie- 414), where, however, mon t0
v & '' ' ' stone
its jackal affinities contrast with the nobler stock represented by the vases and
Hierakonpolis ivory. The latter and a parallel prick-eared type were seais,
adopted by historic Egypt—at times with Libyan names—and this breed
appears on the M. M. II a seal illustrated below.- There, too, we recognize
the bow and arrows of the Desert Race.
As demonstrating the identical style of the lapidaries who executed the
reliefs on stone vases,and of those who carved the ivory seal-tops, it is possible
here to supply two interesting examples. An Early Minoan breccia cups (Fig. Little owl
410, a, i), cut into the figure of a little owl, finds its counterpart in the ivory
seal (Fig. 410 bis, a-d), probably from a similar primitive vault of Mesai-a.4
When compared with hieratic hawks and lions that already make their
appearance in Egypt by the Age of Menes these Cretan animal sculptures
are of more animated conception. The clove is sheltering its young. The
lion guards the prone body of a man. The hound stretches himself as ' dozens
of crop-eared dogs of the same peculiar long-legged and emaciated type ' '"'
have stretched themselves in the Cretan village streets for the last 4,000years.
The great multiplicity of form that characterizes the earlier Minoan M.M.
seals0 was considerably restricted when, about the beginning of M. M. II, on'hard
their engravers began to attack hard stones such as cornelian, agate, ft0,les:
& & t> hierogly-
chalcedony, and rock-crystal, some of which materials were already not un- phic
known for beads. The three- and four-sided seals—their originally thick-set
form being modified to that of an elongated prism —became a well adapted
vehicle for hieroglyphic figures at the beginning of the Middle Minoan Age
and survived to the close of M. M. II. In M. M. Ill this was succeeded by
a shorter form with bossed sides, generally presenting ' talismanic' motives.
! From Hierakonpolis: in the Ashmolean relics from the destroyed Tholos tomb of Hagios
Museum (specially drawn). The sockets for Onuphrips. Dr. Marinatos informs me that
insertion of legs and tail anticipate the tech- the owl vase was in the Milsotakis Collection
niqueofthe Minoan ivory figurines. at Candia, but its find-spot is not recorded.
" See below, p. 523, Fig. 469, and cf. P. of To my own knowledge specimens from Hagios
■M., ii, Pt. 1, p. 48 seqq. and Fig. 23 above Onuphrios—the sole source of such relics at
(' The bow of Neith '). that time—had passed into Mitsotakis' posses-
Seager, Mochlos, pp. 20, 2r, and Fig. 5; sion shortly before 1894.
cf. P. of M., i, p. 94, Fig. 62. " R. B. Seager, Mochlos, p. 21.
' This seal, obtained by me from Southern * See especially P. of M., i, p. 1 17 seqq.,
Crete, may well have been one of the scattered Figs. 86, 87.
pn
The conspicuous skill of the earlier Nilotic ivory carvers in portraying E. M.
clogs (see Fig. 413, a, 5l) is reflected in the couchant dog so admirably st^'iccom-
executed in relief on the steatite lid from Mochlos (Fie- 414), where, however, mon t0
v & '' ' ' stone
its jackal affinities contrast with the nobler stock represented by the vases and
Hierakonpolis ivory. The latter and a parallel prick-eared type were seais,
adopted by historic Egypt—at times with Libyan names—and this breed
appears on the M. M. II a seal illustrated below.- There, too, we recognize
the bow and arrows of the Desert Race.
As demonstrating the identical style of the lapidaries who executed the
reliefs on stone vases,and of those who carved the ivory seal-tops, it is possible
here to supply two interesting examples. An Early Minoan breccia cups (Fig. Little owl
410, a, i), cut into the figure of a little owl, finds its counterpart in the ivory
seal (Fig. 410 bis, a-d), probably from a similar primitive vault of Mesai-a.4
When compared with hieratic hawks and lions that already make their
appearance in Egypt by the Age of Menes these Cretan animal sculptures
are of more animated conception. The clove is sheltering its young. The
lion guards the prone body of a man. The hound stretches himself as ' dozens
of crop-eared dogs of the same peculiar long-legged and emaciated type ' '"'
have stretched themselves in the Cretan village streets for the last 4,000years.
The great multiplicity of form that characterizes the earlier Minoan M.M.
seals0 was considerably restricted when, about the beginning of M. M. II, on'hard
their engravers began to attack hard stones such as cornelian, agate, ft0,les:
& & t> hierogly-
chalcedony, and rock-crystal, some of which materials were already not un- phic
known for beads. The three- and four-sided seals—their originally thick-set
form being modified to that of an elongated prism —became a well adapted
vehicle for hieroglyphic figures at the beginning of the Middle Minoan Age
and survived to the close of M. M. II. In M. M. Ill this was succeeded by
a shorter form with bossed sides, generally presenting ' talismanic' motives.
! From Hierakonpolis: in the Ashmolean relics from the destroyed Tholos tomb of Hagios
Museum (specially drawn). The sockets for Onuphrips. Dr. Marinatos informs me that
insertion of legs and tail anticipate the tech- the owl vase was in the Milsotakis Collection
niqueofthe Minoan ivory figurines. at Candia, but its find-spot is not recorded.
" See below, p. 523, Fig. 469, and cf. P. of To my own knowledge specimens from Hagios
■M., ii, Pt. 1, p. 48 seqq. and Fig. 23 above Onuphrios—the sole source of such relics at
(' The bow of Neith '). that time—had passed into Mitsotakis' posses-
Seager, Mochlos, pp. 20, 2r, and Fig. 5; sion shortly before 1894.
cf. P. of M., i, p. 94, Fig. 62. " R. B. Seager, Mochlos, p. 21.
' This seal, obtained by me from Southern * See especially P. of M., i, p. 1 17 seqq.,
Crete, may well have been one of the scattered Figs. 86, 87.
pn