DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0194
THE MIDDLE MINOAN PERIOD
still imitated in pottery,1 but the metallic glazed black paint
has gone and red paint is sparingly used.2 Owing to the fact
that Knossos alone seems to have sufiered at the end of M.M.ma
from an earthquake severe enough to seal in various deposits,
the description of shapes and decoration which follows is
almost confined to that site.
The quick wheel has come to stay and a number of plain
vessels, cups, and saucers show a spiral fluting made by the
finger of the potter as the wheel stopped 3 (PI. XXVI, 3). The
most typical vases are, as usual, cups. Those with handles
have nearly the same shape as M.M.n examples, but the rim
is apt to spread and the handles are larger, some of them
approximating to the type on the gold cups of Vapheio.4 The
handleless cups have a flaring rim and swell out in the body
above a sharp base.5 With these, as good evidence for dating,
may be taken the elongated shape of the small store jars
(PI. XXVI, 2, c), which are sometimes combined with a ring-
stand at the bottonii moulded in clay and imitating the Egyptian
practice where the pointed base was inserted into a stand.6
Many of these have ledge handles slightly below the greatest
diameter of the vase, others have horizontal handles tilted
vertically and overtopping the mouth. Others again, usually
those with beak spouts, have three handles meeting the rim.
In some cases the mouth is oval and two handles run from
shoulder to rim (PI. XXVI, 2, b). This latter class is some-
what squatter. Tall jars with a wide mouth and a tubular
spout are found, sometimes decorated with a trickle pattern
in red paint (PI. XXVI, 1, b). Two kinds of tripods are
common, both undecorated. One has a bucket-shaped body
and short vertical legs, the other has a more rounded body, two
handles, and the legs splayed out.
The use of red paint is dying out and the decoration is mainly
white on black. A fine exception was found in the South-East
rubbish-heap.7 It is a globular rhyton decorated with palm
trees and sprays, the former much resembling the palms already
described on an M.M.11& jar. Other fragments were found on
Gypsadhais hill South of the Palace. These display lace-like
designs and are of rather a precious and decadent character.8
It has been said that variegated and inlaid stone is still
imitated in pottery (PI. XXVIII, 1). At Knossos this form of
1 Ibid., 413. 2 Ibid., 552. 3 Ibid., 589.
4 Ibid., 245. 6 Ibid., 588. 6 Ibid., 415.
7 Ibid., 594. 8 Ibid., 593.
still imitated in pottery,1 but the metallic glazed black paint
has gone and red paint is sparingly used.2 Owing to the fact
that Knossos alone seems to have sufiered at the end of M.M.ma
from an earthquake severe enough to seal in various deposits,
the description of shapes and decoration which follows is
almost confined to that site.
The quick wheel has come to stay and a number of plain
vessels, cups, and saucers show a spiral fluting made by the
finger of the potter as the wheel stopped 3 (PI. XXVI, 3). The
most typical vases are, as usual, cups. Those with handles
have nearly the same shape as M.M.n examples, but the rim
is apt to spread and the handles are larger, some of them
approximating to the type on the gold cups of Vapheio.4 The
handleless cups have a flaring rim and swell out in the body
above a sharp base.5 With these, as good evidence for dating,
may be taken the elongated shape of the small store jars
(PI. XXVI, 2, c), which are sometimes combined with a ring-
stand at the bottonii moulded in clay and imitating the Egyptian
practice where the pointed base was inserted into a stand.6
Many of these have ledge handles slightly below the greatest
diameter of the vase, others have horizontal handles tilted
vertically and overtopping the mouth. Others again, usually
those with beak spouts, have three handles meeting the rim.
In some cases the mouth is oval and two handles run from
shoulder to rim (PI. XXVI, 2, b). This latter class is some-
what squatter. Tall jars with a wide mouth and a tubular
spout are found, sometimes decorated with a trickle pattern
in red paint (PI. XXVI, 1, b). Two kinds of tripods are
common, both undecorated. One has a bucket-shaped body
and short vertical legs, the other has a more rounded body, two
handles, and the legs splayed out.
The use of red paint is dying out and the decoration is mainly
white on black. A fine exception was found in the South-East
rubbish-heap.7 It is a globular rhyton decorated with palm
trees and sprays, the former much resembling the palms already
described on an M.M.11& jar. Other fragments were found on
Gypsadhais hill South of the Palace. These display lace-like
designs and are of rather a precious and decadent character.8
It has been said that variegated and inlaid stone is still
imitated in pottery (PI. XXVIII, 1). At Knossos this form of
1 Ibid., 413. 2 Ibid., 552. 3 Ibid., 589.
4 Ibid., 245. 6 Ibid., 588. 6 Ibid., 415.
7 Ibid., 594. 8 Ibid., 593.