Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/547

 520 Primitive Greece : Mvcenian Art. were so deftly adjusted one to another that the trace of the design could be carried on uninterruptedly across the joints ; it seemed as a rich fabric hung over the dead. A fac-simile of one of these fragments is engraved above (Fig. 217), so as to give the reader an idea of the spirit and vigour with which the work is executed. The symmetrical design by which these fragments are distinguished has made it possible to restore the whole pattern (Fig. 218). Like a carpet, from which it doubtless Fig. 119. — Plnsler fragment. Half size. was copied, it has an oblong centre-piece, composed of interlacing spirals, from the corners of which spring palmettes or the corolla of a flower with a dart in the middle, which perhaps is reminiscent of a pistil. This is enframed by a double row of rosettes, and more interlacing spirals and palmettes, and again by another row of rosettes and a narrow fillet of dentils or striae for the border. The chamber being oblong in shape, the intermediary band has not a uniform width at the four sides. The distinctive peculiarities of this composition are all found in a fresco fragment from Tiryns. The exquisite delicacy and