Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/481

 Primitive Greece; Mycenian Art. In this period gold is seldom met with, but silver less rarely. Tiryns and Mycenae have an abundance of bronze, compounded with ten to thirteen per cent, of tin. As will be observed, the proportion is much larger than at Troy ; it is that which gives Flo. 504. — Gold Clip. Leneth, 19 c. the best alloy, and will scarcely ever be exceeded.' Lead is exceedingly common. All the necropolcs containing glazed potter)' make a brave show with their silver and gold ; but the royal cemetery at Mycenae stands immeasurably above them all. One cannot form a better notion of the prodigious wealth displayed here than in picturing to oneself the royal body, as it lay in the pit. surrounded by friends and relatives, clothed in its regalia made up of diadem, mask, pectoral, leggings around thigh and calf, with buttons and plates innumerable sewn on to the drapery, ' SCHLIEMANN, Tiryns.