Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/316

 The Human Figure as Decorative Element. 263 of ivory handles which belonged to bronze mirrors. On one of the Mycenie plates are represented two women thus attired, in a sitting posture, and face to face {Fig. m). In the hand of that to the right is held a leafy branch, and in the other an indistinct object. A faint outline is all that remains of the second figure. The costume is met again on another bit of ivory (Fig. 378). The bottom of the skirt is trimmed with a double flounce, and the upper part is covered with a net-wise pattern ; whilst chevrons form the ornament of a fragmentary statuette from the same grave (Fig. 348). The most original specimen of this class is a handle which was still fixed to the bronze mirror when M. Tsoundas brought it out of a pit excavated in the dromos of the second great Fir.. 380, — ^Fragment of ivory h.imlle. domed-tomb. It is self-evident that a woman was buried in it (Fig. 379). The design as a whole is of rare elegance. The handle, broken in twain, is a very free rendering of a palm tree. If below the terminal tuft of leaves the artisan marked the scaly appearance of the bark, he did not extend the indication throughout, but covered the best part of the shaft with bands winding around it, which he interspersed with rosettes and chevrons. Above the capital, made up of palms, are two seated figures, in whom we recognize women, because of their flounced petticoats. They are bent forward as if overcome with sleep ; in the hand is carried a flower with a long stalk ; the corolla is expressed by a gold-headed nail, which served to fix the ivory to the bronze plate. More flowers strew the surface around the figures. The group was repeated on the other side. In this same pit (second grave) a second ivory plaque has been picked up (Fig. 380). The mount consists of two distinct