No. 80. Painted Vase. Ground yellow,
lines black, shields reddish.
(2 M.) Actual size.
Representations of birds and quadrupeds sometimes occur on vases; all are very archaic, particularly the quadrupeds, of which it is sometimes difficult to find out what the artist intended to represent.[182] Thus there often occur animals with very long legs, a body resembling that of a horse and the head like the beak of a stork, but with two horns like those of a gazelle.[183] Usually these animals have a uniform red colour; but sometimes they have an ornamentation of spiral lines. In a few instances animals are represented which perfectly resemble gazelles or he-goats.[184] The bird, in the representation of which the Mycenean artist has succeeded best is the swan.[185] Of the other birds the species is difficult to discern.[186] In the representation of men also the artist may be said to have succeeded; but the vases are broken into so many fragments that there are but few entire painted human figures. The small vase (No. 80) shows warriors with large round shields; and on a fragment (No. 47) is represented a man with a helmet on his head, leading with his right hand a horse, and holding in his left a lance. On other fragments are only the bodies of men without heads. No. 81 is the mouth-piece of a jug, on which a human head is modelled. There is also a human head painted on a fragment of pottery (No. 82); it has a very large eye, and a head-dress in the form of a Phrygian cap. All these representations are very archaic.
No. 81. Human Head on the mouth of a jug.
(5 M.) Actual size.
No. 82. Human Head
on a potsherd.
(6 M.) Half size.
PAINTED POTTERY OF MYCENÆ.
The greater number of the vases with a large opening are painted both outside and inside; and in many instances the internal paintings by far exceed those on the outside in originality and profusion of colours. Thus, for example, I found the fragment of a vase decorated outside with representations of deer, and inside with those of men and women.
I often find fragments of tripods of terra-cotta with two large handles, of which the three feet as well as the handles have two, three, four, or even five perforations, which can only have served for suspension with a string. On many vases without feet, the rim of the base is perforated on either side as many times as the handles.