DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0143
EARLY MINOAN III
117
Kumasa may also be referred to this Period. It is of comic appearance,
and strikes quite a new note in Minoan art. A striking comparison is
supplied by a grotesque four-footed bird-vase with open beak, of local Neo-
lithic fabric, from Kodjadermen in N.E. Bulgaria.1 It also recalls certain
Trojan ' skin ' types.
Further progress on the path of natural representations is noticeable in Natural-
some of the signets of this Period, which are still of soft materials such ^gnet
as ivory and steatite. Prominent among these are the seals, mostly of ivory, de?JJjjjs:
though at times of steatite, in the shape of birds or animals, or the heads forms.
of such, carved in the
round, with transverse
or slanting perforations
and flat bases showing
engraved designs. This
type no doubt goes back
into the E.M. II Period,2
but the fine examples
of these recently found
by Dr. Xanthudides in
the tholos tombs of
Messara seem to have
been mainly associated
with E. M. Ill pottery.
Another type, appa- Dove
rently a dove sheltering ?^elterm&
a
Fig. 86. Ivory Seal from ' Tholos ' Ossuary,
Messara ; Dove and Young (-§).
its young with its wings, young-
is seen in Fig. 86.3 Though the surface in this case is a good deal
worn, the design conveys the impression of great natural sympathy in
the treatment of the subject. The material is ivory, and it has
a horizontal perforation through the sides and a vertical one at the back
of the neck. The central pattern engraved on the base consists of four
linked spirals—a motive, as we have seen, very characteristic of this Period.
Among more or less contemporary relics from the Deposit of Hagios
Onuphrios 4 was a steatite seal also in the form of a bird with a cross
1 Jahrb. d. k. d. Inst., 1915, Anzeiger, p. 219,
Fig. 2.
2 See above, p. 95, Fig. 65.
3 Found by Dr. Xanthudides in a ' tholos '
ossuary of Messara. Thanks to his courtesy
this and the seals shown in Fig. 87 are here for
the first time reproduced.
4 See my Supplement to Cretan Pictographs,
&c. (Quaritch, 1895), p. 108 and Fig. 82.
117
Kumasa may also be referred to this Period. It is of comic appearance,
and strikes quite a new note in Minoan art. A striking comparison is
supplied by a grotesque four-footed bird-vase with open beak, of local Neo-
lithic fabric, from Kodjadermen in N.E. Bulgaria.1 It also recalls certain
Trojan ' skin ' types.
Further progress on the path of natural representations is noticeable in Natural-
some of the signets of this Period, which are still of soft materials such ^gnet
as ivory and steatite. Prominent among these are the seals, mostly of ivory, de?JJjjjs:
though at times of steatite, in the shape of birds or animals, or the heads forms.
of such, carved in the
round, with transverse
or slanting perforations
and flat bases showing
engraved designs. This
type no doubt goes back
into the E.M. II Period,2
but the fine examples
of these recently found
by Dr. Xanthudides in
the tholos tombs of
Messara seem to have
been mainly associated
with E. M. Ill pottery.
Another type, appa- Dove
rently a dove sheltering ?^elterm&
a
Fig. 86. Ivory Seal from ' Tholos ' Ossuary,
Messara ; Dove and Young (-§).
its young with its wings, young-
is seen in Fig. 86.3 Though the surface in this case is a good deal
worn, the design conveys the impression of great natural sympathy in
the treatment of the subject. The material is ivory, and it has
a horizontal perforation through the sides and a vertical one at the back
of the neck. The central pattern engraved on the base consists of four
linked spirals—a motive, as we have seen, very characteristic of this Period.
Among more or less contemporary relics from the Deposit of Hagios
Onuphrios 4 was a steatite seal also in the form of a bird with a cross
1 Jahrb. d. k. d. Inst., 1915, Anzeiger, p. 219,
Fig. 2.
2 See above, p. 95, Fig. 65.
3 Found by Dr. Xanthudides in a ' tholos '
ossuary of Messara. Thanks to his courtesy
this and the seals shown in Fig. 87 are here for
the first time reproduced.
4 See my Supplement to Cretan Pictographs,
&c. (Quaritch, 1895), p. 108 and Fig. 82.