DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0073
52
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
of the classical period (7 and 8). In this rapid survey, I have of course omitted the
minor intermediary subdivisions localized in the Greek islands and elsewhere.
What we are here chiefly concerned with is the relation which the Mycenaean vases
and the style they represent hold to those forms with which in time and space they come
into immediate contact. The chief
and most striking' characteristic of
-Mycenaean ware, besides the great
advance that is made in the refine-
ment and elaboration of the clay
itself, and the characteristic variety
of beautiful shapes which are given
to the vases as such, is to be found
in the distinct artistic quality of the
painted decoration, which quality cor-
responds to that of the designs in
precious metal, in cut stones, gems,
and other materials. This charac-
teristic is the free naturalism both in
the feeling for line as well as in the
forms, and in the life which these
lines and colors render. And this
freedom of naturalistic drawing is
directly opposed, and marks an anti-
thesis, to the geometrical or more
mechanical feeling of ornamentation ;
and thus the decorations on the typi-
cal Mycenaean vase can be appreciated
in their characteristic qualities by
contrasting them with those of the
Geometric vase by which they are
succeeded, and by the mechanical
feeling of primitive decoration in the
vases which precede them. The
Mycenaean principle would thus be
naturalistic as opposed to decorative and linear, and freehand in drawing as opposed to
the more conventional decorative feeling and mechanical drawing1 of the geometric order.
While admitting, nay, confirming this distinctive attribute of Mycenaean vase-decora-
tion, I on the one hand maintain that it does not apply to the earliest groups included
in this subdivision, namely, the dull-colored vases, nor to a great number of later dis-
tinctly Mycenaean vases, especially small vases; and on the other hand, I would insist
upon the fact that at no time was a certain geometrical element entirely excluded from
the ornamentation of the Mycenaean vases. I may at once say now, what will receive
fuller confirmation as we proceed, that, though, in the latest forms of Mycenaean vases
showing signs of degeneracy, the growth of conventionalism prepares the "way for their
supersedence by the Dipylon vases, and shows transitional stages between the two, I main-
tain that also at the other end of the Mycenaean scale, at its earliest beginnings, we have
a preponderance of geometric feeling.
Fig. 25. — Dipylon Vase.
From Man. d. Inst. IX. pi. ,'S9.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
of the classical period (7 and 8). In this rapid survey, I have of course omitted the
minor intermediary subdivisions localized in the Greek islands and elsewhere.
What we are here chiefly concerned with is the relation which the Mycenaean vases
and the style they represent hold to those forms with which in time and space they come
into immediate contact. The chief
and most striking' characteristic of
-Mycenaean ware, besides the great
advance that is made in the refine-
ment and elaboration of the clay
itself, and the characteristic variety
of beautiful shapes which are given
to the vases as such, is to be found
in the distinct artistic quality of the
painted decoration, which quality cor-
responds to that of the designs in
precious metal, in cut stones, gems,
and other materials. This charac-
teristic is the free naturalism both in
the feeling for line as well as in the
forms, and in the life which these
lines and colors render. And this
freedom of naturalistic drawing is
directly opposed, and marks an anti-
thesis, to the geometrical or more
mechanical feeling of ornamentation ;
and thus the decorations on the typi-
cal Mycenaean vase can be appreciated
in their characteristic qualities by
contrasting them with those of the
Geometric vase by which they are
succeeded, and by the mechanical
feeling of primitive decoration in the
vases which precede them. The
Mycenaean principle would thus be
naturalistic as opposed to decorative and linear, and freehand in drawing as opposed to
the more conventional decorative feeling and mechanical drawing1 of the geometric order.
While admitting, nay, confirming this distinctive attribute of Mycenaean vase-decora-
tion, I on the one hand maintain that it does not apply to the earliest groups included
in this subdivision, namely, the dull-colored vases, nor to a great number of later dis-
tinctly Mycenaean vases, especially small vases; and on the other hand, I would insist
upon the fact that at no time was a certain geometrical element entirely excluded from
the ornamentation of the Mycenaean vases. I may at once say now, what will receive
fuller confirmation as we proceed, that, though, in the latest forms of Mycenaean vases
showing signs of degeneracy, the growth of conventionalism prepares the "way for their
supersedence by the Dipylon vases, and shows transitional stages between the two, I main-
tain that also at the other end of the Mycenaean scale, at its earliest beginnings, we have
a preponderance of geometric feeling.
Fig. 25. — Dipylon Vase.
From Man. d. Inst. IX. pi. ,'S9.