502

TUMBLERS ON MINOAN SEAL-STONES

in a flowery field (Fig. 443 and Suppl. PI. LIV*,/). The figures.as will be seen
exactly balance each other, and the whole scene is symmetrically designed'
At the same time the style of engraving is of the finest kind, while the sinewy
human forms are well proportioned and elegantly disposed. The plants—

of

one of which
springs upbetween

the acrobatic
figures—are them-
selves convention-
ally rendered, and
it is impossible
to identify them
with any certainty.
The flowers, set
on long stalks, rise
on either side, and

Tig. 443. ( Flat Cylinder ' of
Blue Chalcedony: Knossos (f).

Fig. 444. Tumblers on
Lentoid Gem.

a central one shoots up between the tumblers' heads.

This triplet of sprays is itself repeated in a degenerate shape on the
lentoid intaglio, Fig. 444,1 in which we must certainly recognize a derivative

Fig. 445, Nilotic Cylinder showing
Tumbler above.

Fig. 446. Egyptianizing Cylinder showing
Tumbler in Lower Register.

of the acrobatic scene given in Fig. 443. The legs of the tumblers, m tus
case, however, do not cross one another, and the forearms are cue

towards the stem of the central plant.

One important feature in the more perfect design
is wanting in the derivative version,
from the top of the performers' heads.

413,

Their

'Libyan'

plumes.

as seen in Fig-
This is the double crest curving bw
From the slight widening ot ^
in their central part it is impossible to regard them as any km ^

and the idea aiust be rejected of men in any respect travestied o ^

animals—Cretan wild-goats, for instance. On the other hand,

3r instance.
From a plaster cast obtained at Athens.