DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0587
TRIDACNA SHELL IN MALACHITE
933
disks linked by diagonal bands seen here on die dagger belt answer to
motive of M. M. I a, and indeed of E. M. Ill tradition.1
A conventionalized and reduced version of the Tridacna shell itself
Fig. 905. Fragment of Miniature Tridacna Shell, carved in Malachite. (^).
may be recognized in the fragments, Fig. 905, here illustrated, from the same Tridacna
i n ■
deposit. The material is fine malachite with brilliant bluish green veining, Maia.
a material which, in one form or another, is to be found in copper-bearing ch'te-
regions like Cyprus. That this stone, the ancient chrysocolla, was of very
early introduction into Crete we have proof in the discovery, referred to
early in this work, of a stud of this material from the Middle Neolithic stratum
beneath the Central Court at Knossos.2 Pounded malachite was used for
personal decoration by the pre-dynastic race in Egypt, and its traces recur
on their slate palettes, but though palettes similar to some of the primitive
Nilotic were found in the early Vaulted Tombs of Mesara,3 no trace of the
pigment used had been preserved. In the well-known 'Shield Fresco' of
Tiryns, so closely dependent on that of Knossos, pounded malachite first
appears as a colouring material of the Minoan painter.4
1 Cf., for instance, P. of M., i, p. 112, Fig.
79, and p. 113, Fig. 80 a, 10 (Gournia, E.M.
Ill), and ib. ii, Pt. I, p. 186, Fig. 97, b (Pachy-
ammos, M. M. I a).
"■ P. ofM., i, p. 55, and Fig. 15 li.
As, for instance, Xanthudides, Vaulted
Tombs of Mesara, PI. XXI, and pp. 15, 16,
and cf. P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 44, 45, and
Fig. 20, a, b.
* See above, P. ofM., iii, p. 305, and Noel
Heaton in Rodenwaldt, Tiryns, ii, p. 226.
P 2
933
disks linked by diagonal bands seen here on die dagger belt answer to
motive of M. M. I a, and indeed of E. M. Ill tradition.1
A conventionalized and reduced version of the Tridacna shell itself
Fig. 905. Fragment of Miniature Tridacna Shell, carved in Malachite. (^).
may be recognized in the fragments, Fig. 905, here illustrated, from the same Tridacna
i n ■
deposit. The material is fine malachite with brilliant bluish green veining, Maia.
a material which, in one form or another, is to be found in copper-bearing ch'te-
regions like Cyprus. That this stone, the ancient chrysocolla, was of very
early introduction into Crete we have proof in the discovery, referred to
early in this work, of a stud of this material from the Middle Neolithic stratum
beneath the Central Court at Knossos.2 Pounded malachite was used for
personal decoration by the pre-dynastic race in Egypt, and its traces recur
on their slate palettes, but though palettes similar to some of the primitive
Nilotic were found in the early Vaulted Tombs of Mesara,3 no trace of the
pigment used had been preserved. In the well-known 'Shield Fresco' of
Tiryns, so closely dependent on that of Knossos, pounded malachite first
appears as a colouring material of the Minoan painter.4
1 Cf., for instance, P. of M., i, p. 112, Fig.
79, and p. 113, Fig. 80 a, 10 (Gournia, E.M.
Ill), and ib. ii, Pt. I, p. 186, Fig. 97, b (Pachy-
ammos, M. M. I a).
"■ P. ofM., i, p. 55, and Fig. 15 li.
As, for instance, Xanthudides, Vaulted
Tombs of Mesara, PI. XXI, and pp. 15, 16,
and cf. P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 44, 45, and
Fig. 20, a, b.
* See above, P. ofM., iii, p. 305, and Noel
Heaton in Rodenwaldt, Tiryns, ii, p. 226.
P 2