DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0051
POTTERY: TOWN STYLE
IT is a sign of health and vigor in art-activity during the Town Period of Gournia (L.M. I) that
each craftsman appreciated the possibilities of his own material. Pottery, which previously
had been regarded as a poor substitute for stone or metal, acquired independence. Needless
to say, however, the change was neither sudden nor complete. Although fine polychrome
f abrics, which especially copied metal, were practically non-existent above Gournia floor levels, the
use of white paint alone on black continued. This was employed chiefly for spiral designs on cups, for
they, of all vases, best conserved Middle Minoan traditions of metal forms, thin walls, and lustrous
surface; but it appears also on coarser vessels of somewhat dingy surface, and, as an accessory, on
bands and other patterns, which are painted on
a buff ground. Yet undeniably the victory was
to the dark-on-light style of decoration. Pot-
ters no longer deemed it necessary, when pro-
ducing their best, to hide the clay under a body-
paint before applying the design, but drew
boldly on the clay itself. Their iron-oxide paints
gave, after baking, a rich gamut of shades be-
tween black and red.
The majority of the pottery shown on Plate
VII is from houses on the East Slope of Gournia,
a part of our excavations that has, on the whole, an older tinge than
the West Slope or the crest of the Acropolis. The value of vases 25-
41 is greatly enhanced by their having been found together. Our
experience in excavating House Cm gives an idea of the surprises in
store for diggers of a town site. The threshold had been descried
amidst dense undergrowth during our first season of 1901 and soon after
my return to Gournia in 1903 curiosity led me to set two men at work to
test the place. The soil seemed to have no depth (C 59, 60, 61) and, as
nothing came to light save an open undecorated jar of inartistic shape
(Plate 1 26), the men were soon withdrawn to the main line of work. But
when, in the regular course of excavations, duty obliged us to clear this
area, we met with astounding success. On May 27, 1903, a man was
digging in a cellar east of the shallow rooms that had proved so unprofit-
able. While patiently unearthing two of the pithoi that usually stand
in such cellars, his pick struck the fine bull's-head rhyton illustrated on
our Color Plate 1 1. In rapid succession, vase after vase was recovered
from within and around the pithoi, where they had fallen in the collapse
of the house. This one small room added seventeen to our number of
whole decorated vases (see Plate F and Plate VII, Nos 25-41), and Mr.
FIG' 19 Seager, who had special oversight of Cm, reported that not less than
seventy vases were represented in the debris of the dwelling.
Figs. 17, 19 give a vivid impression of the freedom and spontaneity with which artists worked in
the early days of the Town Period, as contrasted with the elaboration to be seen in their later efforts
(Fig. 23). Even the staff of the double-axe (Fig. 18, 1) has been transformed into a growing thing,
and the painter has used a mesh of fine lines to give an effect of lightness to the axe. This effect is
further enhanced by the addition of white. In Fig. 19 hatching indicates that certain leaves were
drawn in red (cf. Plate K). The flower-spiral of Plate VII 27 may be compared with one on the
second sherd of Fig. 23, the inside of which has a curious design, possibly a large-eyed sea-monster.
39
IT is a sign of health and vigor in art-activity during the Town Period of Gournia (L.M. I) that
each craftsman appreciated the possibilities of his own material. Pottery, which previously
had been regarded as a poor substitute for stone or metal, acquired independence. Needless
to say, however, the change was neither sudden nor complete. Although fine polychrome
f abrics, which especially copied metal, were practically non-existent above Gournia floor levels, the
use of white paint alone on black continued. This was employed chiefly for spiral designs on cups, for
they, of all vases, best conserved Middle Minoan traditions of metal forms, thin walls, and lustrous
surface; but it appears also on coarser vessels of somewhat dingy surface, and, as an accessory, on
bands and other patterns, which are painted on
a buff ground. Yet undeniably the victory was
to the dark-on-light style of decoration. Pot-
ters no longer deemed it necessary, when pro-
ducing their best, to hide the clay under a body-
paint before applying the design, but drew
boldly on the clay itself. Their iron-oxide paints
gave, after baking, a rich gamut of shades be-
tween black and red.
The majority of the pottery shown on Plate
VII is from houses on the East Slope of Gournia,
a part of our excavations that has, on the whole, an older tinge than
the West Slope or the crest of the Acropolis. The value of vases 25-
41 is greatly enhanced by their having been found together. Our
experience in excavating House Cm gives an idea of the surprises in
store for diggers of a town site. The threshold had been descried
amidst dense undergrowth during our first season of 1901 and soon after
my return to Gournia in 1903 curiosity led me to set two men at work to
test the place. The soil seemed to have no depth (C 59, 60, 61) and, as
nothing came to light save an open undecorated jar of inartistic shape
(Plate 1 26), the men were soon withdrawn to the main line of work. But
when, in the regular course of excavations, duty obliged us to clear this
area, we met with astounding success. On May 27, 1903, a man was
digging in a cellar east of the shallow rooms that had proved so unprofit-
able. While patiently unearthing two of the pithoi that usually stand
in such cellars, his pick struck the fine bull's-head rhyton illustrated on
our Color Plate 1 1. In rapid succession, vase after vase was recovered
from within and around the pithoi, where they had fallen in the collapse
of the house. This one small room added seventeen to our number of
whole decorated vases (see Plate F and Plate VII, Nos 25-41), and Mr.
FIG' 19 Seager, who had special oversight of Cm, reported that not less than
seventy vases were represented in the debris of the dwelling.
Figs. 17, 19 give a vivid impression of the freedom and spontaneity with which artists worked in
the early days of the Town Period, as contrasted with the elaboration to be seen in their later efforts
(Fig. 23). Even the staff of the double-axe (Fig. 18, 1) has been transformed into a growing thing,
and the painter has used a mesh of fine lines to give an effect of lightness to the axe. This effect is
further enhanced by the addition of white. In Fig. 19 hatching indicates that certain leaves were
drawn in red (cf. Plate K). The flower-spiral of Plate VII 27 may be compared with one on the
second sherd of Fig. 23, the inside of which has a curious design, possibly a large-eyed sea-monster.
39