DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34678#0048
4S
TRANSACTIONS^ DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY, U. OF P.
exerted on vases. The strings of buds in TL/A Vug. PI. XXXIV, 336, look
like the necklace of gold beads in the form of buds which is shown in
And 1905, XIV, Part 2, col. 597, Fig. 61.
CONCLUSION.
The designs which we have examined record some two thousand years of
artistic development. At the beginning of this period man's instinct for
balance, rhythm, and harmony is satisfied by the simplest linear geometric
ornament, notably by the zigzag. The established use of the brush is influential
in the transformation of this rectilinear into curvilinear ornament and many
experiments in curvilinear decoration follow in the Early Minoan III period.
Among them are motives which look like natural objects and gratify the
primitive instinct for imitative art. Conventional naturalistic designs, thus
casually begun, continue throughout the Middle Minoan II period with growing
realism; but more typical now is non-imitative ornament, which includes a
large variety of simple motives as well as complex designs constructed for the
sake of balance, rhythm, and harmony. Some of these non-imitative designs
reach a high degree of artistic merit, while others are crude and fantastic.
The prevalence of this class of design is parallel to the use of polychromy. In
the Middle Minoan III period pure naturalistic designs supersede non-imitative
designs. Their introduction is to be attributed in part to Egyptian influence,
but Cretan designers, trained by long practice in artistic arrangement of line
and color, are able to secure more naturalistic as well as more decorative effects
than Egyptian artists. This change to a naturalistic style is effected on
pottery which for technical reasons must be regarded as the direct descendant
of Middle Minoan I and II ware. Moreover, the non-imitative patterns of
preceding periods are frequent still, so that no violent break can be assumed
before the introduction of the naturalistic style. In the succeeding Late
Minoan I period the same naturalistic style prevails, and various new ways
of combining naturalistic motives are invented. A large stock of non-imitative
motives inherited from the early and middle periods are also in use. In the
period of the great palaces at Knossos and Phaistos, conventional and con-
ventionalized flowers replace, in part, naturalistic motives. The beginning of
a tendency to divide up the fields into small areas is observable. In the Late
Minoan III period, designs are neither adapted from nature nor invented, but
instead debased forms of naturalistic motives are unintelligently copied. The
artist's chief concern is to pack with ornament the panels or zones into which
he divides his fields. Such a system of decoration not only indicates lack of
artistic originality but also heralds the approach of a purely geometric style.
The statement of Professors Furtwangler and Loschcke quoted on page 5
had reference, it will be remembered, to vases with lustrous paint. This class
4
TRANSACTIONS^ DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY, U. OF P.
exerted on vases. The strings of buds in TL/A Vug. PI. XXXIV, 336, look
like the necklace of gold beads in the form of buds which is shown in
And 1905, XIV, Part 2, col. 597, Fig. 61.
CONCLUSION.
The designs which we have examined record some two thousand years of
artistic development. At the beginning of this period man's instinct for
balance, rhythm, and harmony is satisfied by the simplest linear geometric
ornament, notably by the zigzag. The established use of the brush is influential
in the transformation of this rectilinear into curvilinear ornament and many
experiments in curvilinear decoration follow in the Early Minoan III period.
Among them are motives which look like natural objects and gratify the
primitive instinct for imitative art. Conventional naturalistic designs, thus
casually begun, continue throughout the Middle Minoan II period with growing
realism; but more typical now is non-imitative ornament, which includes a
large variety of simple motives as well as complex designs constructed for the
sake of balance, rhythm, and harmony. Some of these non-imitative designs
reach a high degree of artistic merit, while others are crude and fantastic.
The prevalence of this class of design is parallel to the use of polychromy. In
the Middle Minoan III period pure naturalistic designs supersede non-imitative
designs. Their introduction is to be attributed in part to Egyptian influence,
but Cretan designers, trained by long practice in artistic arrangement of line
and color, are able to secure more naturalistic as well as more decorative effects
than Egyptian artists. This change to a naturalistic style is effected on
pottery which for technical reasons must be regarded as the direct descendant
of Middle Minoan I and II ware. Moreover, the non-imitative patterns of
preceding periods are frequent still, so that no violent break can be assumed
before the introduction of the naturalistic style. In the succeeding Late
Minoan I period the same naturalistic style prevails, and various new ways
of combining naturalistic motives are invented. A large stock of non-imitative
motives inherited from the early and middle periods are also in use. In the
period of the great palaces at Knossos and Phaistos, conventional and con-
ventionalized flowers replace, in part, naturalistic motives. The beginning of
a tendency to divide up the fields into small areas is observable. In the Late
Minoan III period, designs are neither adapted from nature nor invented, but
instead debased forms of naturalistic motives are unintelligently copied. The
artist's chief concern is to pack with ornament the panels or zones into which
he divides his fields. Such a system of decoration not only indicates lack of
artistic originality but also heralds the approach of a purely geometric style.
The statement of Professors Furtwangler and Loschcke quoted on page 5
had reference, it will be remembered, to vases with lustrous paint. This class
4