DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0611
RETICULATED CONVENTION FOR SEA-WAVES 955
f'me with the purely natural pose and action, is unparalleled among Minoan shrine-
religious impersonations. The naked female clay figure that occurred abfepo'se
„°„rf those from the late Shrine of the Double Axes on the Palace site,1 ant!
among^ li» action.
seated with its arms crossed over the breasts and grotesquely rude in exe-
cution, represents a recrudescence in religious Art. It is in fact a survival
from much earlier images such as those of the Cycladic class. Elsewhere,
as on certain Cypro-Minoan cylinders where the naked Goddess appears, she
merely reflects the nude types of Ishtar. For die slurring over of the head
__at times a mere knob in Late Minoan Art—a still earlier parallel may be
sou°"ht in the female figures of Spanish Cave-men, as at Alpera.
Amone the characteristic elements in the details of the intaglio on Reticu-
lalcd con-
the present signet most likely to strike the observer's eye is the convention vention
by which the waved surface of the sea is here rendered by means of a j^f^_
reticulated pattern. This convention itself is closely akin to that illustrated parallel
. .'..... . r r . , . indication
by other Minoan works 111 which the rocky surface of the ground is repro- of rocks,
duced by a simple scale ornament—a convention that has been shown
above to be of Oriental origin and to go back to a remote Sumerian Age.2
A variation of this in which the scale-pattern shows a tendency to assume
a reticulated aspect, like a pattern on the robes of the ' Ladies in Blue V
appears on a steatite relief from a more or less contemporary 'rhyton'
presenting an archer 'proceeding to mount a rocky steep', found to the
North-East of the Palace site at Knossos.*
By the transitional M. M. III-L. M. I a epoch the pattern, as here seen,
seems to have been very generally taken over from its equivalence-with
rocky land surface to represent the uneven and irregular surface offered
by the sea waves.5 It is thus employed on the silver 'rhyton' from
Mycenae with the siege scene, the lower space of which is largely filled by
a winding arm of sea,G where naked men swim for their lives, apparently
pursued by the dog-headed monster of the deep. On a painted ' rhyton '
from Pseira of somewhat later date (L. M. I b) a reticulated pattern sur-
rounds swimming dolphins. The same reticulated background—which at
this time seems to have represented the sea itself—also occurs in sole
relation to a robed personage, best identified with the Minoan Goddess,
P. of M., i, p. 52, Fig. 14. have been suggested by rocks as seen beneath
See //;., i, pp. 312-14, and Fig. 232. the surface of the pellucid Aegean shallows,
lb-, ii, Pt. II, p. 73ij Fig. 457. but the sea bottom is also often formed ot
lb., iii, pp. IOO anc] I0gj jrjg. 59. sancj or shingle.
this seems to be the most natural ex- ' P. of M., iii, p. 91, Fig. 50, and cf. p. 96,
planation. The marine equation might also Fig. 54.
f'me with the purely natural pose and action, is unparalleled among Minoan shrine-
religious impersonations. The naked female clay figure that occurred abfepo'se
„°„rf those from the late Shrine of the Double Axes on the Palace site,1 ant!
among^ li» action.
seated with its arms crossed over the breasts and grotesquely rude in exe-
cution, represents a recrudescence in religious Art. It is in fact a survival
from much earlier images such as those of the Cycladic class. Elsewhere,
as on certain Cypro-Minoan cylinders where the naked Goddess appears, she
merely reflects the nude types of Ishtar. For die slurring over of the head
__at times a mere knob in Late Minoan Art—a still earlier parallel may be
sou°"ht in the female figures of Spanish Cave-men, as at Alpera.
Amone the characteristic elements in the details of the intaglio on Reticu-
lalcd con-
the present signet most likely to strike the observer's eye is the convention vention
by which the waved surface of the sea is here rendered by means of a j^f^_
reticulated pattern. This convention itself is closely akin to that illustrated parallel
. .'..... . r r . , . indication
by other Minoan works 111 which the rocky surface of the ground is repro- of rocks,
duced by a simple scale ornament—a convention that has been shown
above to be of Oriental origin and to go back to a remote Sumerian Age.2
A variation of this in which the scale-pattern shows a tendency to assume
a reticulated aspect, like a pattern on the robes of the ' Ladies in Blue V
appears on a steatite relief from a more or less contemporary 'rhyton'
presenting an archer 'proceeding to mount a rocky steep', found to the
North-East of the Palace site at Knossos.*
By the transitional M. M. III-L. M. I a epoch the pattern, as here seen,
seems to have been very generally taken over from its equivalence-with
rocky land surface to represent the uneven and irregular surface offered
by the sea waves.5 It is thus employed on the silver 'rhyton' from
Mycenae with the siege scene, the lower space of which is largely filled by
a winding arm of sea,G where naked men swim for their lives, apparently
pursued by the dog-headed monster of the deep. On a painted ' rhyton '
from Pseira of somewhat later date (L. M. I b) a reticulated pattern sur-
rounds swimming dolphins. The same reticulated background—which at
this time seems to have represented the sea itself—also occurs in sole
relation to a robed personage, best identified with the Minoan Goddess,
P. of M., i, p. 52, Fig. 14. have been suggested by rocks as seen beneath
See //;., i, pp. 312-14, and Fig. 232. the surface of the pellucid Aegean shallows,
lb-, ii, Pt. II, p. 73ij Fig. 457. but the sea bottom is also often formed ot
lb., iii, pp. IOO anc] I0gj jrjg. 59. sancj or shingle.
this seems to be the most natural ex- ' P. of M., iii, p. 91, Fig. 50, and cf. p. 96,
planation. The marine equation might also Fig. 54.