DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0254
606 CATALOGUE OF LATE PALATIAL SEAL IMPRESSIONS
25. Couchant lion wearing collar : head turned back.
26. Couchant lion, head turned back : spray (tree) behind.
27. Lion springing on stag's head.
28. Ox with back of head turned away, and wild-goat.
29. Three wild-goats apparently coursing, with heads turned back, symmetrically grouped
to fill the field.
30. Wild-goat with head of another behind. (Complete lentoid.)
3r. Cow suckling calf. (Usual type.)
32. Two calves in reversed positions. (Lentoid form complete.)
33. Seated oxen in reversed positions.
34. Numerous fragments of cattle pieces.
35. Two crouched dogs (?) confronted.
36. Bitch suckling pup.
37. Collared bitch and two puppies, one in field above. (Lentoid form complete.)
38. Bulls, &c. with symbols—Minoan shield and 'impaled triangle'.
39. Flying bird.
40. Two fish in reversed positions.
41. Two ducks in reversed positions.
42. &c. A large number of fragments of animals, many of them in groups.
Selected Types.
The selected types shown in Fig. 597 a, b, may be regarded as fair
illustrations of the seal-engravers' art at the time of the great catastrophe
that closed the palatial age on the site of Knossos about 1400 B.C., and
which forms a convenient terminus for L. M. II. The clay impressions
derived, as shown above, from a series of deposits (A-E) are themselves
in many cases incomplete, and in definition of details naturally fall short of
the originals in stone and metalwork from which they were taken. Owing
to the fragmentary condition of so many specimens, the subjects, as de-
scribed in the list, could often be only recovered by means of overlapping
fragments, as was notably the case with the signet, Fig. 597 a, e, from the
Central Palace Shrine. That the signets themselves may in certain cases
have been in use for a considerable period of years previous to the date of
this catastrophe, is always possible, and, indeed, the clay ' matrix', above
referred to, itself goes back to the earliest L. M. I phase. As a whole,
however, we have a fair guide to the prevailing sphragistic style.
Only in quite exceptional instances, such as Fig. 597 B, b, is there
evidence of the continued use of the'flat cylinder'form. The fine 'amyg-
daloids' are also at most very sparingly represented, the oval types that
here appear in most cases probably belonging to signet-rings or ' elongated
25. Couchant lion wearing collar : head turned back.
26. Couchant lion, head turned back : spray (tree) behind.
27. Lion springing on stag's head.
28. Ox with back of head turned away, and wild-goat.
29. Three wild-goats apparently coursing, with heads turned back, symmetrically grouped
to fill the field.
30. Wild-goat with head of another behind. (Complete lentoid.)
3r. Cow suckling calf. (Usual type.)
32. Two calves in reversed positions. (Lentoid form complete.)
33. Seated oxen in reversed positions.
34. Numerous fragments of cattle pieces.
35. Two crouched dogs (?) confronted.
36. Bitch suckling pup.
37. Collared bitch and two puppies, one in field above. (Lentoid form complete.)
38. Bulls, &c. with symbols—Minoan shield and 'impaled triangle'.
39. Flying bird.
40. Two fish in reversed positions.
41. Two ducks in reversed positions.
42. &c. A large number of fragments of animals, many of them in groups.
Selected Types.
The selected types shown in Fig. 597 a, b, may be regarded as fair
illustrations of the seal-engravers' art at the time of the great catastrophe
that closed the palatial age on the site of Knossos about 1400 B.C., and
which forms a convenient terminus for L. M. II. The clay impressions
derived, as shown above, from a series of deposits (A-E) are themselves
in many cases incomplete, and in definition of details naturally fall short of
the originals in stone and metalwork from which they were taken. Owing
to the fragmentary condition of so many specimens, the subjects, as de-
scribed in the list, could often be only recovered by means of overlapping
fragments, as was notably the case with the signet, Fig. 597 a, e, from the
Central Palace Shrine. That the signets themselves may in certain cases
have been in use for a considerable period of years previous to the date of
this catastrophe, is always possible, and, indeed, the clay ' matrix', above
referred to, itself goes back to the earliest L. M. I phase. As a whole,
however, we have a fair guide to the prevailing sphragistic style.
Only in quite exceptional instances, such as Fig. 597 B, b, is there
evidence of the continued use of the'flat cylinder'form. The fine 'amyg-
daloids' are also at most very sparingly represented, the oval types that
here appear in most cases probably belonging to signet-rings or ' elongated