DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0047
STONE VASES
THE Gournia artist, like his brother of Knossos, delighted in making delicate decorations for
the embellishment of walls and utensils, as is seen from the small moulds which may con-
veniently be discussed here in connection with the carving of our stone vases. (Cf. also
PI. XI, 15, 16.) An otherwise barren house on the upper East Slope (Cp) yielded four
fragile pieces of clay which proved of immense value in forming an estimate of the excellence
of this form of the local art. These were: three small moulds; one for a stalk of lilies (L. 8 cm.),
another for a conch shell (L. 8.5 cm.), the third for a lily in the round; and a fragment of another for
the hind quarters of a sheep (Fig. 14). The second and third did not photograph successfully and are not
illustrated here. The sheep is well proportioned, and this, in connection with a tiny bull's
hoof (unpublished) and a well-executed small mould for a goat's head shows that great skill
was attained in modelling small animals. Their use for decorative purposes of another
sort was recognized by adapting the head and curving horns of the wild goat for vase
handles in a most artistic manner. A larger clay mould for making a bull's head (PI. XI
19A) exhibits remarkably delicate workmanship and is the finest example from Gournia
of animal modelling where no additional effect was produced by the use of color. A
small cat's head (from F 21) is doubly interesting for its excellent technique and also
for being one of the few representations of this animal known thus early. Cats affronte
form the design on a gold plaque from Mycenae, but the Gournia cat was possibly a
FIG ,3 child's toy, although it may have been used as a fetish, or even as a votive offering. It
must be admitted, however, that some figurines of animals and men unearthed at our
site were very poorly executed. These probably belong to the large class of rude votive offerings
which were found not only in such shrines as the Dictaean Cave and Petsofa, but also among dwellings,
and which may have been made by the very persons who donated the offerings.
On the other hand, the ability of some unknown artist is seen in the stately little spray of lilies
(Fig. 13), true to life, and yet with just the touch of style that carries his production beyond naturalism,
and with restraint enough to maintain the salient quality of the lily—
its dignity. It is perhaps not too fanciful a conceit to take this spray
of lilies as symbolic of the artistic spirit of the great period of Minoan
civilization. In all the little intimate objects of daily life are displayed
refinement of taste and love of beautiful detail which were born of close
and loving study of nature, and developed by the patient genius of this
gifted race.
The use of this ornament and the material of which the cast was to
be made can only be inferred, but probably, like the faience reliefs from
Knossos, it served as a wall decoration with other objects, among which
may have been faience or plaster casts of the lily in the round and the
conch shell. These small moulds for reliefs are too fragile for casting
metal, but would have been sufficiently strong for casting plaster or
faience. In the same storeroom of the Palace that contained the cere- FIG- '4
monial lamps, we found small pieces of plaster relief, one recognized by
our workmen as a %eXt&W, swallow, and the other, at first likened to a thunderbolt, almost certainly
the 8-shaped shield of early Greece and Crete. Faience reliefs were not found at Gournia, but Knossos
was abundantly supplied with them in the remarkable naturalistic reliefs of flowers, fishes, shells, and
cows and goats suckling their young, from the Temple Repositories. The presence of small moulds
for making these reliefs showed that a royal faience factory was maintained in connection with the
palace at Knossos, and we may infer from our moulds that a similar art was practised at Gournia.
B. E. W.
35
THE Gournia artist, like his brother of Knossos, delighted in making delicate decorations for
the embellishment of walls and utensils, as is seen from the small moulds which may con-
veniently be discussed here in connection with the carving of our stone vases. (Cf. also
PI. XI, 15, 16.) An otherwise barren house on the upper East Slope (Cp) yielded four
fragile pieces of clay which proved of immense value in forming an estimate of the excellence
of this form of the local art. These were: three small moulds; one for a stalk of lilies (L. 8 cm.),
another for a conch shell (L. 8.5 cm.), the third for a lily in the round; and a fragment of another for
the hind quarters of a sheep (Fig. 14). The second and third did not photograph successfully and are not
illustrated here. The sheep is well proportioned, and this, in connection with a tiny bull's
hoof (unpublished) and a well-executed small mould for a goat's head shows that great skill
was attained in modelling small animals. Their use for decorative purposes of another
sort was recognized by adapting the head and curving horns of the wild goat for vase
handles in a most artistic manner. A larger clay mould for making a bull's head (PI. XI
19A) exhibits remarkably delicate workmanship and is the finest example from Gournia
of animal modelling where no additional effect was produced by the use of color. A
small cat's head (from F 21) is doubly interesting for its excellent technique and also
for being one of the few representations of this animal known thus early. Cats affronte
form the design on a gold plaque from Mycenae, but the Gournia cat was possibly a
FIG ,3 child's toy, although it may have been used as a fetish, or even as a votive offering. It
must be admitted, however, that some figurines of animals and men unearthed at our
site were very poorly executed. These probably belong to the large class of rude votive offerings
which were found not only in such shrines as the Dictaean Cave and Petsofa, but also among dwellings,
and which may have been made by the very persons who donated the offerings.
On the other hand, the ability of some unknown artist is seen in the stately little spray of lilies
(Fig. 13), true to life, and yet with just the touch of style that carries his production beyond naturalism,
and with restraint enough to maintain the salient quality of the lily—
its dignity. It is perhaps not too fanciful a conceit to take this spray
of lilies as symbolic of the artistic spirit of the great period of Minoan
civilization. In all the little intimate objects of daily life are displayed
refinement of taste and love of beautiful detail which were born of close
and loving study of nature, and developed by the patient genius of this
gifted race.
The use of this ornament and the material of which the cast was to
be made can only be inferred, but probably, like the faience reliefs from
Knossos, it served as a wall decoration with other objects, among which
may have been faience or plaster casts of the lily in the round and the
conch shell. These small moulds for reliefs are too fragile for casting
metal, but would have been sufficiently strong for casting plaster or
faience. In the same storeroom of the Palace that contained the cere- FIG- '4
monial lamps, we found small pieces of plaster relief, one recognized by
our workmen as a %eXt&W, swallow, and the other, at first likened to a thunderbolt, almost certainly
the 8-shaped shield of early Greece and Crete. Faience reliefs were not found at Gournia, but Knossos
was abundantly supplied with them in the remarkable naturalistic reliefs of flowers, fishes, shells, and
cows and goats suckling their young, from the Temple Repositories. The presence of small moulds
for making these reliefs showed that a royal faience factory was maintained in connection with the
palace at Knossos, and we may infer from our moulds that a similar art was practised at Gournia.
B. E. W.
35