Dr Evans would doubtless now agree. These objects were probably found in a tomb.
Dr Evans's excavations at Cnossus, those of the Italians at Phaestos and Hagia Triada and those of the British school at Palaikastro have not produced any very striking examples of the Minoan goldsmith's art in his own country, though splendid bronze bowls and vases have been found, which give us a good idea of what the plate must have been like, as do also the gilt steatite imitations of plate mentioned below. One of the bronze vases from Cnossus exactly resembles one of gold and silver which was brought to Egypt by the ambassadors in Queen Hatshepsut's time (fresco in the tomb of Senmut). But we possess a fine silver cup (of the Middle Minoan period) from the American excavations at Gournia, and two examples of the finest Minoan gold plate, which were discovered outside Crete, in the famous “Vaphio cups,” with their embossed representations of bull-netting, which have been illustrated so often as triumphs of ancient art (Plate I., figs. 24, 25). These are of Cretan workmanship, though found in Laconia, and are no doubt contemporary with the vases of black steatite with reliefs showing a harvest-home procession, gladiatorial combats, and a king receiving or bidding farewell to a warrior with his armed followers, which have been found by the Italians at Hagia Triada in Crete. These were originally overlaid with gold leaf, and are undoubtedly imitations in a cheap material of golden embossed vases of the same style as those found at Vaphio.
Next in order of time came the objects of gold and silver plate found by the expedition of the British Museum at Enkomi in Cyprus, which perhaps represent a somewhat later phase of Minoan art, but certainly cannot now any longer be regarded as belonging to the very late period to which they were at first assigned. One silver vase found at Enkomi is of the “Vaphio” shape, which first appears in Cretan pottery as early as the Middle Minoan period, contemporary with the XIIth Egyptian Dynasty (c. 2000 B.C.), and even then is clearly an imitation of a metal original. Slightly modified, this type remained late in use, as we find it represented among other golden vases on the walls of the tomb of Imisib or Imadua, an Egyptian official of the time of Rameses IX. (c. 1100 B.C.) at Thebes. But some, at least, of the Enkomi finds must be earlier than this.
The Egyptian representations of Minoan vases of gold and silver in the tomb of Senmut at Thebes (c. 1500 B.C.) and of later Mycenaean golden Bügelkannen in that of Rameses III. (c. 1150 B.C.) have been mentioned already. During the age of Mycenaean and sub-Mycenaean decadence the art of the Greek goldsmith necessarily passed through a period of eclipse, to arise again, with the other arts, in rich and luxurious Ionia probably. The Homeric poems preserved for later days a traditional echo of the glorious works of the metal-workers of the Heroic age.
References:—Troy and Mycenae: Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Excavations; Tsountas-Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, passim. Vaphio: Tsountas-Manatt, Aigina; A. J. Evans in Journ. Hell. Stud., xiii. 195-226. Cnossus: Evans, Ann. Sch. Ath. (1901-1907). Hagia Triada: Savignoni, Pernier and others, Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei (Rome, 1902-1906); Gournià: Mrs Boyd Hawes, Gournià, (Philadelphia, 1908), pl. c.; Mochlos (unpublished). For Egyptian references see Hall, Ann. Sch. Ath. (1904), “Keftiu and the Peoples of the Sea” (1905); “The Keftiu-fresco in the Tomb of Senmut.” (H. R. H.)
Etruscan Plate.—The Etruscans were specially renowned for their skill in working all the metals, and above all in their gold work. Large quantities of exquisite gold jewelry have been found in Etruscan tombs, including, in addition to smaller objects, sceptres, wreaths of olive, and plates decorated with filigree work and animal figures, which were used as personal ornaments (breastplates, girdles, diadems, &c.). In the Museo Kircheriano in Rome is a magnificent specimen of the last form of ornament; it is covered with nearly a hundred little statuettes of lions arranged in parallel rows; and the Vatican (Museo Gregoriano) possesses a very fine collection of similar objects from the “Regulini-Galassi” tomb at Caere. Little, however, that can be classed under the head of plate has yet been found.
Hellenic Plate.—The period of “geometrical” art which followed the Mycenaean age was one of decline in material prosperity and artistic skill. We possess some specimens of the work then produced in the precious metals in the gold diadems placed on the head of corpses interred at Athens (Archaeologische Zeitung, 1884, pls. viii., ix., cf. Athenische Mittheilungen, 1896, p. 367; and G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquité, vii. 245). The period of Oriental influence is represented by the finds of gold ornaments made at Camirus in Rhodes (see Greek Art, fig. 11). Fig. 3 shows a silver cup, with gold mounts, also found at Camirus, apparently a work of the same early date. A remarkable find of gold objects was made in 1882 at Vettersfelde in Brandenburg; the principal piece was a gold fish (see Greek Art, fig. 10) with ornaments in relief. These objects recall by their style early Ionic art, but were probably produced in one of the Black Sea colonies, since similar objects have been found, together with later work, in Crimean graves (see below), and exchanged for the amber of the Baltic coasts. Croesus especially encouraged the art, and paid enormous sums for silver vases and cups to the most renowned artists of his time, such as Glaucus and Theodorus the Samian.
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Fig. 3.—Silver Cantharus from Rhodes, with gold mounts. Possibly the form of the Homeric δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον. |
The British Museum possesses a fine specimen of archaic Greek plate, found at Agrigentum in Sicily. This is a gold phiale or bowl, about 5 in. across, with central boss or omphalos (φιάλη μεσόμφαλος) which seems once to have contained a large jewel. Round the inside of the bowl are six figures of oxen repoussé in relief, and at one side a crescent, formed by punched dots. A delicate twisted moulding surrounds the edge; the workmanship of the whole is very skilful (see fig. 4).
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Fig. 4.—Archaic Gold Phiale, found at Agrigentum, now in the British Museum. It is shown in section below. It is 5 in. in diameter. |
Pliny (N. H. xxxiii. 154 sqq.) gives a brief valuable account of the art of silver chasing (caelatura, Gr. τορευτική).
In the best times of Greek art the chief works in gold and silver seem to have been dedicated to religious purposes, and to have been seldom used for the ostentation of private individuals. Vessels for the use of the temples, tripods in gold or silver
