Together with the four goblets was found a large plain gold cup (φιάλη). It has only one handle, which is fastened to the rim and body with four gold pins with large flat heads. There were further found four spirals of thick quadrangular, and seven spirals of thick round gold wire, five plain gold rings, and a similar one of silver, of which a selection is represented under No. 529. I remind the reader that similar spirals and rings of thick gold wire occur in the wall paintings of the Egyptian tombs. They are supposed to have served as presents, or perhaps as a medium of exchange.
No. 530. Gold Signet-ring, from the tomb to the south of the Agora. Double size.
MARVELLOUS SIGNET-RING.
In this tomb was further found a gold seal-ring of the same form, but more than twice as large, as those which I discovered in the fourth sepulchre.[400] From the engraving of this new ring, which is represented in double size under No. 530, it will be seen that it is entirely covered with intaglio work. To the left of the spectator is represented a tree, whose stem certainly resembles that of a palm-tree; it has fifteen short branches on which we see no leaves, but large clusters of a small fruit, each cluster resembling a pine apple; below the tree stands a small female, who is leaning over a little backwards and extends both her hands just below the lowest cluster of fruit, as if in the act of plucking it. My esteemed friend the Professor of Botany, Mr. T. Orphanides, of Athens, says that of all trees in Greece this tree resembles most a pine, but that, as the little woman is going to pluck one of its fruits, the fruit must necessarily be eatable, and he thinks therefore that it must be a breadfruit-tree, because of all the fruits of India the breadfruit most resembles that of the tree before us. But I do not remember having ever seen the breadfruit-tree in India. I have only seen it in Central America. My other esteemed friend, the Professor of Botany, von Heldreich, in Athens, thinks that the Mycenean artist intended to represent here simply a vine laden with bunches of grapes, and that, merely by his ineptitude, the vine has been represented as a thick tree; and this is also my opinion.
Two long tresses of hair are hanging from the little woman's head down on the back; her dress below the waist is divided by two horizontal bands into three compartments, probably to make us aware of its richness; from her arms there project two bands, which may be intended to represent the sleeves.
On the other side of the tree, and leaning with her right arm against it, is sitting a tall woman, with noble Grecian features. Her eyes are large and her nose projects in a straight line with the forehead, just as we see it on the sculptures in the Parthenon; her head is covered with a turban running out into a point, from beneath which a tress of hair is hanging down on her back; just above this tress we see two ornaments on the turban. I call particular attention to the curious sign just above her forehead, which is no doubt meant to represent her diadem; but I have not found a diadem of this kind in any of the five tombs. The upper part of her dress is tightly fitted to the body, but nevertheless the woman's two breasts protrude. The lower part of her dress is ornamented with a large number of horizontal bands, and is in the form of wide pantaloons which end at the ankles in crescents. Her right hand rests on her waist, and she holds in her uplifted left hand three poppies, which she appears to offer to a tall woman, splendidly dressed, who is standing before her and extends her right hand towards the flowers.
The head of this tall standing woman is covered with a sort of turban, which strikingly resembles the turbans now worn in India, with the difference that here the turban runs out into a point, from which a long ornament hangs down on the back. A further difference is that from the forepart of the turban there projects a sort of mask, on which the two eyes and the nose are well represented, but here this mask is lifted, and we see the woman's eyes from below it; a third difference between this and an Indian turban is that from its right side, on the left of the spectator, hangs down a band which must also represent an ornament; a fourth difference is the strange ornament which we see just above the forehead, and which must be a sort of diadem. The features of this woman are certainly masculine and her hair is cut short, but the artist wished her sex to be distinctly understood and gave her two large protruding breasts. Just above her breasts we see two horizontal bands, which may be intended to represent necklaces; but we ought not to leave unnoticed the long band which hangs from her right shoulder. Her lower dress seems also to be in the shape of enormously wide pantaloons, and from the loins downward we see on the dress of each leg five large curved parallel bands, which can have no other object than to represent the splendour and costliness of her attire: these bands become more curved the lower they are, and the lowest is exactly in the form of a crescent. Below the extremity of the pantaloons we see that the woman wears drawers, which are fastened with clasps. Above the forepart of this woman's turban is again represented an ornament, the nature of which cannot be discerned.
Just below her outstretched right arm we see another small female figure, probably a child, holding in each of its extended hands an object, the nature of which we are unable to discern, and which it seems to offer to the seated woman. The child's head is covered with a turban, and a long tress of hair, or some ornament, is hanging down its back. It wears a necklace, and its dress is divided by horizontal parallel bands into three or four compartments. The features of the child are very expressive.