5i«

TOILETTE SCENE OF M. M. Ill FRESCOES

the 'Ring of Nestor' has been made the basis of an actual retranslat'
of the scenes.in colour, so as to restore the equivalent of a fresco pan I
in the 'Miniature' style.1 It has been shown that a whole group 0f

bull-grappling 0r
bull-catching scenes
on signets were
taken over from
prototypes in the
greater Art, such as
the painted stucco
relief of the North-
ern Entrance Porti-
coes at Knossos.and
of which the repousse
compositions on the
Vapheio Cups form
a fuller record. In
many cases, moreover, the architectonic source of sphragistic motives is
actually indicated by the 'triple gradation ' beneath them, sometimes with
the separate blocks of the masonry marked out.

a b

Fig. 461. a, Jasper Lentoid from Kydonia showing
Tiring Scene. Female Figure (probably the Minoan Goddess)
seated on plllar and tended by two handmaidens ; />,
Restoration of Design iiy Gillieron, fii.s.

Toilette Scene of M. M. Ill Fresco reflected on Gem.

To the suggestions already made of such influences in the course ot
this work may be added the evidence afforded by a curious, though sketcnily
engraved and unfortunately somewhat worn design on a jasper lentoic
from the neighbourhood of Kydonia (Fig. 461). As shown by the restored
drawing, Fig. 461, b, it was evidently intended to depict a toilette scene suci
as those depicted in the M. M. Ill wall-painting of the ' Ladies in Blue,
or the more or less contemporary 'Jewel Fresco',3 where a male na
seen holding the end of a robe, apparently attached to a beaded nee
A part of one of the black tresses of its wearer is also visible. ,

Some tiring process of the same kind must be recognized in the
this intaglio. This is being performed for the central figure by the two
maidens at her side. From the short pillar—of baetylic significance °
the personage thus adorned is seated, she may well be regarded as the
Goddess herself, also seen, in other cases, attended by two handma

Fig. 231. It has since been badly-")

1 See P. of Af., iii, p. 145 seqq., and
PI. XX, A.

5 P. bfM., i, pp. 545-7, and Figs. 307, 39S. Earthquake of 1926.