Fig. 129.—Diagram illustrating the Arrangement of the Dorian Chiton.
The objects connected with the toilet in Case F are those accessories in metal and other materials that have been preserved. The actual fashion of the dress of the Greeks and Romans can be best studied elsewhere—in the Vase Rooms, the Room of Terracottas, and the Sculpture Galleries. A few words only need be said here as to the principal varieties of costume.
Greek Female Dress.—The very singular and modern-looking dress of the Minoan ladies may be seen in the facsimiles of Cretan statuettes and carvings in the First Vase Room.
The earliest dress of women which is represented in the art of historical Greece is that which was known as the Dorian chiton, or tunic. It was an oblong sheet of woollen cloth, measuring rather more than the height of the wearer, and about twice the span of her arms. This blanket was folded as shown in the annexed diagram (fig. 129). The tunic then fell into position about the figure, leaving the arms bare, as in the illustration, which is taken from a toilet-box (E 772) in the Third Vase Room (fig. 130). The dress in its simplest form was now complete, but as one side of it was open, a girdle was usually worn to keep the edges together. At Sparta, where Dorian manners were preserved in their primitive severity, the side remained open. Elsewhere it was partially or completely sewn up.
Fig. 130.—The Dorian Chiton.
Fig. 131.—The Ionian Chiton.
About the beginning of the 6th century B.C. the Ionian chiton was introduced into Greece from Asia Minor, and became the ordinary undergarment of women, in Italy as well as Greece, throughout the classical period. It was in effect a loosely-fitting dress with wide sleeves, girt at the waist. Being of fine linen instead of wool, a mantle or wrap was worn over it to make up for the thinness of the cloth. This construction is plainly shown in a drawing on the inside of a cup (E 44) by the potter Euphronios, which represents a woman busy with the knot of her girdle (fig. 131). The material was soft and heavy, yet thin and transparent enough to reveal the form of the figure beneath it. It is only in a dressing scene, such as this, that the Ionian chiton is represented alone. Otherwise a mantle (himation) was worn in addition. These mantles were of various shapes and sizes, though always rectangular, and their arrangement did not follow any fixed rule. Distinct fashions, however, in the wearing of the over-mantle can be remarked at certain periods. Thus, when the Ionian dress first came into use at Athens, an extraordinary elaboration was cultivated, the folds being arranged with such precision as to suggest that the garment is not a rectangular wrap, but a made-up shawl artificially pressed and gathered. This style of dress is best known from a large series of statues which were discovered in excavations on the Acropolis of Athens. They are relics of the city which was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C., and give an accurate date for the prevalence of the fashion. The type is represented in a statuette in the Bronze Room (fig. 132): the lady stands in an attitude of archaic severity, and holds up with her left hand the skirt of the soft Ionian chiton which is underneath the shawl.