DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0067
46
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
nomenon in the early history of clay-work : the primitive clay-worker is before all a
coroplast, and actually models his vessel with his hand. He is thus sometimes misguided
into giving eccentric animal or human shapes to some of his early vessels.1 The Myce-
naean clay-worker is before all a ceramist, and thus introduces ceramic conventionalism
into his terra-cotta figurines.
It is curious to note how the vase-rimmed head is even introduced into a most complex
terra-cotta of this Mycenaean class, in which a female figure is represented as holding an
infant in her arms.2
This third Mycenaean class was not powerful enough to drive the previous classes out
of the held, for these show a continuous development.
It is to Dr. Chase that I owe the identification of a " Dipylon " class of figurines,
recognized by him as such chiefly by the colored ornamentation on the dresses which
indicate the Dipylon style (Fig. 20). These types, while presenting the same marked con-
trasts to those of the Mycenaean order as
the previous classes, and showing a general
relation to the more primitive figurines, are
more advanced in the treatment of the head,
in which they do not, however, attain the
distinct naturalism of the succeeding class.
The most marked fact to be noticed in this
category is the extreme paucity of the spe-
cimens of human figures, — there is com-
paratively a greater abundance of animal
terra-cottas of this class. This fact, it
appears to me, can be explained by one of
two causes : either the human figure was
not frequently represented by the "artists"
of the Dipylon period, or the people to
whom they belonged did not dwell for a
long period in the Argive district, nor exer-
cise great influence upon the artistic life of
the place.
When we realize how imperfect and
wooden, how completely " decorative " and
conventionalized is the treatment of human
figures on the Dipylon vases, we must at
the same time realize that this purely con-
ventional and decorative treatment does not
lend itself to the spirit of art production in
plastic works, — either in terra-cotta or
stone. The statue and statuette as such,
which arise out of a naturalistic as opposed to a decorative impulse, are not likely to be
developed by such workers. In bronze, we might more readily find them, because the
maker of bronze vessels and implements of peace and war would use the same technicpie
Fig. 20.
■ Figure of the "Dipylon'
From the Heraeum.
1 See Schliemann's llios, pp. 340-345; 375, 377, etc.;
Rayet-Collignon, Hist. d. 1. Ceram. Gr. pp. 1 and 7.
2 'Eiprinepis, 1888, pi. ix. fig. 1G ; ef. also Ferrot-Chipiez,
op. cit. VI. p. 743, and Collignon, Hist. d. 1. Scidpt. dr. I.
p. 52.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
nomenon in the early history of clay-work : the primitive clay-worker is before all a
coroplast, and actually models his vessel with his hand. He is thus sometimes misguided
into giving eccentric animal or human shapes to some of his early vessels.1 The Myce-
naean clay-worker is before all a ceramist, and thus introduces ceramic conventionalism
into his terra-cotta figurines.
It is curious to note how the vase-rimmed head is even introduced into a most complex
terra-cotta of this Mycenaean class, in which a female figure is represented as holding an
infant in her arms.2
This third Mycenaean class was not powerful enough to drive the previous classes out
of the held, for these show a continuous development.
It is to Dr. Chase that I owe the identification of a " Dipylon " class of figurines,
recognized by him as such chiefly by the colored ornamentation on the dresses which
indicate the Dipylon style (Fig. 20). These types, while presenting the same marked con-
trasts to those of the Mycenaean order as
the previous classes, and showing a general
relation to the more primitive figurines, are
more advanced in the treatment of the head,
in which they do not, however, attain the
distinct naturalism of the succeeding class.
The most marked fact to be noticed in this
category is the extreme paucity of the spe-
cimens of human figures, — there is com-
paratively a greater abundance of animal
terra-cottas of this class. This fact, it
appears to me, can be explained by one of
two causes : either the human figure was
not frequently represented by the "artists"
of the Dipylon period, or the people to
whom they belonged did not dwell for a
long period in the Argive district, nor exer-
cise great influence upon the artistic life of
the place.
When we realize how imperfect and
wooden, how completely " decorative " and
conventionalized is the treatment of human
figures on the Dipylon vases, we must at
the same time realize that this purely con-
ventional and decorative treatment does not
lend itself to the spirit of art production in
plastic works, — either in terra-cotta or
stone. The statue and statuette as such,
which arise out of a naturalistic as opposed to a decorative impulse, are not likely to be
developed by such workers. In bronze, we might more readily find them, because the
maker of bronze vessels and implements of peace and war would use the same technicpie
Fig. 20.
■ Figure of the "Dipylon'
From the Heraeum.
1 See Schliemann's llios, pp. 340-345; 375, 377, etc.;
Rayet-Collignon, Hist. d. 1. Ceram. Gr. pp. 1 and 7.
2 'Eiprinepis, 1888, pi. ix. fig. 1G ; ef. also Ferrot-Chipiez,
op. cit. VI. p. 743, and Collignon, Hist. d. 1. Scidpt. dr. I.
p. 52.