No. 526. An object of Egyptian Porcelain. Sepulchre I. Actual size.
This tomb contained a vast quantity of fragments both of beautiful hand-made and wheel-made pottery. Among the former, particular attention is claimed by the goblets of the usual Mycenean type, but of a light greenish colour with black spiral ornaments; also, the much larger black goblets with a large hollow foot and deep horizontal furrows in the middle; further, the splendidly-fashioned small monochromatic lustrous red or black vases, whose fabrication is far superior to any painted wheel-made vases to be found here; further, the light green vases with black spirals, likewise hand-made; these vases are rather rudely made, and their painted ornamentation is still ruder. I found fragments of the last-named vases in all the tombs, and also among the stones of the Cyclopean walls on Mount Eubœa. Of the painted wheel-made vases the most interesting are those with a dark red ornamentation on a light red or yellow dead ground, of which I represent a specimen under No. 527.
No. 527. A wheel-made Vase of Terra-cotta. Sepulchre I. Size 1:3, about.
POTTERY AND COPPER VESSELS.
Of large copper vessels I found in this tomb only seven, all of which stood on the west side; one of them, a λέβης λοετροχόος, or kettle for heating water for the bath, like the one already represented (No. 438, p. 275.) It has three vertical handles, and measures 22 in. in diameter. There is another smaller one of the same form and also with three vertical handles, and three of the same shape with only two handles; also two enormous cans with two handles, of which the one joins the rim to the body, while the other is fastened below. As perfectly similar cans, found in the fourth tomb, have been already represented, I abstain from giving any more engravings of them. (See Nos. 436, 437, pp. [274], [275].)
I may further mention the copper bottom of a vessel; and, among other objects, a marble disk which may have served as the bottom to a vase of alabaster, and a large whetstone of very fine sandstone; also 16 flat quadrangular pieces of bone, having at each end two perforations; they are 110⁄12 in. long and 7⁄12 in. broad, and must have served somehow as ornaments, probably on horse-trappings. Especially characteristic of this tomb was the large quantity of wood it contained. Besides a number of half-burnt pieces of wood of the funeral fires, I found there a piece of cypress-wood, 9 in. long and 41⁄2; in. broad, which had not been touched by the fire, though apparently it had been on the pyre. There was also collected in this tomb a very large quantity of cloven wooden instruments or handles, and three lids of wooden boxes, as well as remnants of sword-sheaths or domestic utensils.
Perhaps still more important and interesting than all the jewels found in this tomb was a small quadrangular wooden box (νάρθηξ), of which I picked up two sides, on each of which are carved in relief a lion and a dog. Small as these sculptures are, they are nevertheless of capital interest to science, because they prove to us that the art of carving in wood flourished in the mythic heroic age.
When first taken out of the grave all this wood was moist and soft like a sponge, but it is now dry, and I hope that with proper care it can be preserved. There were also found many larger and smaller pieces of cork, several of them with a curved border, from which I conclude that all must have belonged to shields; otherwise their use is quite inexplicable. Food seems also to have been deposited with the three bodies of this tomb, for I gathered in it a large quantity of oyster-shells, and among them several unopened oysters. A very large number of boars' teeth were also found.