Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/537

 5IO Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. a continuous ornament. Now and again it happens that, thanks to the untiring industry with which certain fragments have been sorted and arranged, they have succeeded in restoring almost entire figured scenes. We know now what were the pet forms of these painters, and the subjects they treated ; this it is that enables us to form a pretty clear notion of their practical know- ledge and qualities of workmanship. Nevertheless, for reasons to be presently adduced, we cannot restore a complete decoration of the Tirynthian and Mycenian megarons. Fig. 307. — Tliera. Coloured stucco fraEment. Aclualsiie. The explorers of Tiryns found only one somewhat large painted fragment in the south-east corner of the women's hall, where the plastering was preserved to a height of sixty centi- metres above the floor. The ornament consists of horizontal bands of unequal height (Fig. 206)-* One of these bands shows single rosettes, whilst in a much larger division appears a com- plicated and elegant pattern, composed of curvilinear lines which recall the scrolls of the Orchomenos ceiling. The single row of ^ In this and Figs. 213, 215-217, 219, 222, 245, red is represented by cross- hatchings, blue by vertical strokes, whilst yellow stands Tor slanting and Tar a]Kirt Btrokes. Additional pieces are untinted.