Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/497

 440 Primitive Greece : Mycenian Art. been figured. Such would be a gold band designed to go round a man's thijgh (Fig. io6), a pectoral decorated with scrolls and spirals (Fig. io8), two gold plates similar to those found in super- abundance in not a few graves (Figs. 112, 281, 356), rings of gold (Fig. 113), and several ornaments of the same metal (Figs. 221, 222, 232, 233). The most effective pieces are decidedly the diadems. They exhibit two types. The first consists of a very elongated oval plate of gold (Fig. 529), decorated with a system of concentric bands and bosses in repousse work, and gradually diminishing in size on either side of the largest central box. The middle line of the design is formed by bosses, each surrounded by two concentric circles ; the intervening spaces are filled with fine spirals and twists. On the upper and lower edge are smaller bosses and circles. The main design is framed by a salient baguette or bar, beyond which is a border adorned with spirals. The arrangement is happy. The gradual decreasing of the bosses explains itself to the eye by the narrowing of the field ; the dots at the extremities, the many twists and flourishes, enrich but do not confuse the decoration. The play of light and shade thus produced on the brilliant surface is not without attrac- tiveness. The whole is instinct with elegance at once severe and splendid, but easily read. The second type is of a somewhat different character (Fig. 530). The upper edge of the band describes a deep curve, and is met at the sides by a straight line. In the field are three large rosettes bounded by entwined wire. The intervening space is filled with smaller bosses and circles, having a dot in the middle. Pendants, in the shape of leaves, now almost disappeared, fell on the forehead. The design is less clear than in the other type, and a superabundance of details is not conducive to clearness. Finally, by the side of the diadems are semi-oval ornaments (Fig. 528),^ supposed by Schliemann to have been joined at their broader end, so as to form perfect diadems. The presumption, however, is traversed by the fact that the grave in which these pieces were found only contained three bodies, each provided with a diadem, and that, moreover, the line of junction — assuming that these plates were juxtaposed to constitute crowns — would have fallen right in the middle of the forehead. ^ Tomb I. contained twenty-four, along with fragments of others.