DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4945#0166
i55
CHAPTER IX.
THE IVORY STATUETTES.
By Cecil Smith.
(Plates XXI.-XXXI.)
Among the large number of objects in varied materials found within the
Primitive Area the ivories included under the above heading are artistically
by far the most important. When we consider the little that has been done
in the way of excavation on any early Ionic site, and the scarcity of material
at our disposal for the study of the art of the Ionian Greeks in the period
preceding 500 B.C., the Artemision may be considered to offer the best
contribution yet made to our study of the subject. Ivories from a Greek
site of this period have so far been extremely rare, and, considering the
circumstances under which these were found, it is remarkable that any were
preserved at all; most of them were recovered from the liquid mud, and in
process of drying showed a tendency to split along the grain into innumerable
splinters, which sometimes warped in the drying. It says much for the careful
handling of them by the excavators, and for the skill with which they were
afterwards put together in England by Mr. A. P. Ready, that this valuable
material has been so far preserved in a condition for study.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the many points of interest raised by
these ivories, it will be well to give a detailed description of them. With
regard to the Plates, while in most instances the reproduction is in natural
size, in some cases the scale has been increased in order to allow of studying
the detail ; these cases of variation only are noted in the descriptions. In
Plates xxii. and xxiii. the reproduction is in a scale slightly under the
actual size.
In his general account of the excavations of 1904-5 (Chapter III.)
Mr. Hogarth has noted the circumstances of the discovery of most of these
ivories. Reference will be made to these passages, wherever possible, in the
detailed description which follows. It is only necessary here to remark that
all the ivories described below, except one hawk on a pole, an engraved seal,
and an axe-head pendant, were discovered outside the Basis, but within the
area of the Primitive shrines; some (such as Nos. 2, 20, 22, 26, 30, 47) were
x 2
CHAPTER IX.
THE IVORY STATUETTES.
By Cecil Smith.
(Plates XXI.-XXXI.)
Among the large number of objects in varied materials found within the
Primitive Area the ivories included under the above heading are artistically
by far the most important. When we consider the little that has been done
in the way of excavation on any early Ionic site, and the scarcity of material
at our disposal for the study of the art of the Ionian Greeks in the period
preceding 500 B.C., the Artemision may be considered to offer the best
contribution yet made to our study of the subject. Ivories from a Greek
site of this period have so far been extremely rare, and, considering the
circumstances under which these were found, it is remarkable that any were
preserved at all; most of them were recovered from the liquid mud, and in
process of drying showed a tendency to split along the grain into innumerable
splinters, which sometimes warped in the drying. It says much for the careful
handling of them by the excavators, and for the skill with which they were
afterwards put together in England by Mr. A. P. Ready, that this valuable
material has been so far preserved in a condition for study.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the many points of interest raised by
these ivories, it will be well to give a detailed description of them. With
regard to the Plates, while in most instances the reproduction is in natural
size, in some cases the scale has been increased in order to allow of studying
the detail ; these cases of variation only are noted in the descriptions. In
Plates xxii. and xxiii. the reproduction is in a scale slightly under the
actual size.
In his general account of the excavations of 1904-5 (Chapter III.)
Mr. Hogarth has noted the circumstances of the discovery of most of these
ivories. Reference will be made to these passages, wherever possible, in the
detailed description which follows. It is only necessary here to remark that
all the ivories described below, except one hawk on a pole, an engraved seal,
and an axe-head pendant, were discovered outside the Basis, but within the
area of the Primitive shrines; some (such as Nos. 2, 20, 22, 26, 30, 47) were
x 2