DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1066#0145
MINOAN ART
but arts of hand languish, for they require some
permanency of abode for their cultivation. The
already over-ripe Minoan art declined in the
Third Late Minoan period pari passu in Crete,
and where it had been introduced on the mainland.
Characteristics of this decadent style are de-
generation of ornament, especially in plant and
marine designs, increase of conventionality with
little regard to beauty, neglect of form, and,
in rare instances, the appearance of a crude,
almost barbaric element. Fine metal-work held
its own longer than any other branch, as may be
seen from the rich jewellery found in the 'Tombs
of the Nobles' of the Late Bronze Age at Kaly-
viani near Phaestos.
The Minoans in their dispersion, the Achaeans
in their free-booting expeditions, and the Phce-
nicians in their trade spread the decadent style
far and wide from Gaza in Palestine to Sicily
and beyond. Egypt and Cyprus have yielded.
many specimens of it; indeed this debased
product, usually called 'Late Mycenaean,' so far
surpasses every other style of pre-Hellenic art in
quantity and in dissemination that in nine cases
out of ten where ' Mycenaean' finds are reported
they are of this class, and throw no new light on
the great days when Crete was the art centre of
the ffigean.
but arts of hand languish, for they require some
permanency of abode for their cultivation. The
already over-ripe Minoan art declined in the
Third Late Minoan period pari passu in Crete,
and where it had been introduced on the mainland.
Characteristics of this decadent style are de-
generation of ornament, especially in plant and
marine designs, increase of conventionality with
little regard to beauty, neglect of form, and,
in rare instances, the appearance of a crude,
almost barbaric element. Fine metal-work held
its own longer than any other branch, as may be
seen from the rich jewellery found in the 'Tombs
of the Nobles' of the Late Bronze Age at Kaly-
viani near Phaestos.
The Minoans in their dispersion, the Achaeans
in their free-booting expeditions, and the Phce-
nicians in their trade spread the decadent style
far and wide from Gaza in Palestine to Sicily
and beyond. Egypt and Cyprus have yielded.
many specimens of it; indeed this debased
product, usually called 'Late Mycenaean,' so far
surpasses every other style of pre-Hellenic art in
quantity and in dissemination that in nine cases
out of ten where ' Mycenaean' finds are reported
they are of this class, and throw no new light on
the great days when Crete was the art centre of
the ffigean.