The Mycenae-Vapheio Lion Group
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The Mycenae-VapheioLion Group. IOHN G. YOUNGER A bstract Fewer rings and sealstonessurr.ive than sherds. Efiorts * to .identify artistic workshops of the Late so lesshas been attempredin the u.av of artribu- Age Frg"T have generally .o.r."nt."tid on products tion. Certain scholars,horvever, have erpressed in individual media. Certain media, however, share more cor.rfidence;and Boardman and the presenr techniques;for example,chasing in metal and carv- writer have assembledgroups of stvlisticallr. ing in stone both use engraving techniques. Thus re_ lated seals it is theoreticallypossible io ,ttrilbut. woris in vari- and rings as the prod.,ci, of r-arior-r: ous media. to a single workshop. The present paper glyptic workshopsand masters.2 discusses thirty-two Mycenaean-objectsranging'from So far, scholars have attempted to identifv a bronze and niello daggers to lentoid sealsiones.On master or shop only from work in one medium. stylistic grounds, these pieces may be divided into There is, however, no reasonto assumethat an early and a late phaie of a single artistic work- arusrs -of in the Bronze shop. On the bases the proven'ience and dated Age confined themselvesto a sinsle contexts of the attributed works this rvorkshop be- medium alone. Insread,it is likely that the pie- gan production ar Mycenae in LH I for the nobles historic artist was a versatile artisan, working in buried in Shaft Grave III; the workshop,s styie a range of materialsand techniques. seemsto have run its course in LH II, as seen'in If there is any possibilityof identifying such the attributed works from the Vapheio and Rutsi an artist of tholoi. Becausethe products of the workshop have the Bronze Age, his diverse producrs mainly been identified through cerrain siylistic ought to be recognizedeasily within a large. grorrp traits in the rendering of lions, and because-these of works that all come from one place and were p-roductshave mainly come to light at Mycenae and all depositedar much Vapheio, the same time. The artifacts _they may be said to Iorm the Mycenae- Vapheio Lion Group. found in the Shaft Graves at Mycenae rhus con- stitute a natural point d'appui, for they are roughly No'"v that the efiorts of many scholars have contemporary,belonging to the formative years of helped to arricuhte the general ,rii.n, characreris- the Mycenaean period, and they differ grearly in tics of Late Minoan and Mycenaean styles in a form, function, and material. Another distinctive number of artistic media, a few are beginning to featuremakes analysis easierl though the repertory attempt to go further and identify workshops and of figured represenrarionsis large, the lion is the hands. For the ceramic material results have been animal most frequently depicted. encouraging; with some confidence we can make This paper is concernedwith thirty-two objects, attributions to a Reed Painreq to a Polyp Work- many of which carry lions rendered in a highly shop, and to a group of Pictorialists.l distinctive way. Most of these objects come from * Thc iclea for papcr this was clevelopcd indcpcndently from, Vermeule - E.T. Vermeule, "The Art of the Shaft though approximatcll, at the same time as, Professor Emily T. Graves at Mycenae," lectures in honor of Louise Vcrmeule's lecturc, "The Art of the Shaft Graves at Myccnae." Taft Semple, presenrecl3o April and r May 1973 I am grateful to Pro{essors E.T. Vermeule, G. Kopcke, and at the University of Cincinnati (Universitl, of L. Richardson for rcading this paper ancl for generously of- Oklahoma Press.r975). fering manl valuable suggestions. 1Rcspectively, M.R. Popham,"Late Minoan potter;, A Sum- In addition to the usual abbreviations, the follorving have mary," 8.1,4 6z (t967) P.P. Betancourr, ,,The pol1.p been usetl: 34r-qz Workshop: A Sqlistic Group from LM Ib," AIA 77 g97 j1 AGdS - Antifte Gennen in deutschen Sammltmpen 333-J4i B.L. I3enson,"Observations on M1'cenaeanVasc-paint- (Munich 1968- ). ers," AIA 65 (r96r) 337-47;F. Stubbings,',Some Ml.cenaean CS - V.E.G. Kenna, Cretan Seals (Oxford 196o). Arhsts," BSA 46 (r95r) t68-77. CMS - Corptrs der ntinoischen-myllcnischcn r ,,Towards Siegel (Ber- Respectivelr',GGFR j9 j-96; and J.G. younger, lin r964- ). the Chronologv of Aegean Glyptic in the Late Bronze Age,,' GGFR - J. ISoardman, Grecl1 Gems and Finger Rings unpublishedPh.D. dissertation,University of Cincinnatr r973 (London r97o). (University Microiilms 7j-za, 867) 4o5-49. Angela Tamvakis [i3ys G. - Karo, Die Sc/tac.htgriiber Lon Myftenai (Munich has collcctedfour sealstonesthat may come from a LH IIIB(l) r93o-r933). n'orkshop,AA,1 6 (t97 j) jo8-t5. 186 IOHN G. YOUNGER |AIA 82 the MycenaeShaft Graves; otherscome from the This is a powerful and statelywork; the broad Vaphero Tholos Tomb. The lions on all these planes for iowls and rnuzzle, the firm ridges for cheek muscles. objects share certain anatomicalpecuiiarities and the sharp articulations between head and mane and for nose-andeyebrows, the impressedcircles conventionsin rendering,which will be pointedout for whiskers, the short incisions for rufis, and the in the following catalogue.Additional attributrons overlapping flamelike locks of the mene, are ell de- to the group can be made on the basisof similar liberate conventions which imoart a bold but formal conventionsused in depicting animals other than quality. The face raised,mask-iike, above the rounded lions. plane of the mane is a curious feature: the oppositeis exJrected. Boardman has alreadypointed out stylisticsimi- Many of the lions on smaller works from the larities between the gold lion's head rhyton from Shaft Graves show similar characteristics: broad Mycenae Shaft Grave IV (fig. r) and lions on planes, incised ruffs that now appear on belly and severaisealstones.s This rhyton may be taken as haunches, flame locks for the mane, and the masklike our point of departure and its type of lion then face. These lions also convey, characteristically,great power and spirit. sought in other early works from Mycenae. z. (Fig. u) Karo 395. Dagger in niello. Ob- verse and reverse:three eold lions in iow relief run A. The MycenaeSubgroup in r fying grllop down ih. bl"d.. Wrvy contours in I. From Mycenae niello flow from the margins to fiIl spaces. a. Shaft GraveIV :. (Fig. 3) Karo 394. Dagger in niello. Ob- r. (Fig. r) Karo 273.GoId rhyton in the form verse: a lion attacksa small herd of five sazelles.He of a lion's head. fells one towrrd the hilt while the others flee in e flying gallop down the blade. Three gazelles are in- tent on escaping,but one worriedly turns its head re- gardant. Reverse:four men armed with shields,spears, and bows and arrows attack r pride of three lions. Two escapedown the blade in fying gallop, but the third, the fiercest, having kiiled one hunter, turns to attack his four comrades.n Besidesthe distinctive rendering of the lions, the gazellestoo exhibit interesting featurespresent in other depictions.Their heads resemble those of the horseson the gold ring No. r3 and on the sword No. r7, both below; their sleek bodies match those of the leopardson the dagger No. rJ, and on the gold pom- mei, No. J, where they appear similarly dappled. This dagger also presentsa highly sophisticated narration. On the obverse,a lion attacksgazelles, while on the reversea lion de{endshimself asainst attackers. In both scenesthe aggressorattacks from the hilt of the dagger, while the attacked is depicted toward the tip of the blade. The composition thus stands as a metaphor lor the use of the dagger itself. b. Shaft Grave III +. (Fig. .1) Karo 295b. Ivory sword pommel. Around the body of the pommel four lions run clock- wise in fying gallop; their heads,noses to center,form a tetraskelion design at the top. Though the crimped fur on the belliesand haunchesof theselions is omit- ted, the treatment of manes and heads and the bold Frc. r. No. r. Gold rhyton from Mycenae, Shaft symmetrical composition require the inclusion of this GrevelV (afterKaro) pommel here. present prefcr s 6G.FR395-96, Groups A ancl |. for them all thc same mrster. The writer woulcl J tu trblc the querti,'n rt this tinre. Vermeule n :i !!c,'mnrrC: irrf t'. )v' the style of this rlagger to that of the Silver Siege Rhyton and Stele K. r4jr, suggestrng t:, Frc. 3. No. 3. Dagger from Mycenae,Shaft Grave IV, detail (photo author) nffi loHN G. YOUNGER lAlA 82 -ll[&a .: Frc. 4. No. 4. Ivory pommel from Mycenae, Shaft Grave III, resrored drawing (after Karo) S. (Fig. 5) Karo 295a. Gold-plated sword pom- mel. Around the body of the pommel a lion atracks a leopard; both run clockwise in flying gallop. The leopard's dappling resembles that of the gazelles on No. 3 obverse and the Kerbschnitt decora- tion on the tail resembles the grooving on the lion tails of No. 6. The crimped belly fur is here presenr Ft9, No. Gold-platedpommel from Mycenae, again. 5, 5. Shaft Grave III, restoreddrawing (after Karo) On the foreiimbs of both felines a prominenr vein curves from the elbow across the leg io the top of the paw. Such a vein occurs in nature across the slope. An arrow has pierced his shoulder and he turns hindleg where on the interior it is called the grear his snarling head toward it.s saphena,and on the exterior the small saphena.These 8. (Figs. 9, ro) Karo y @MS I 9). Gold veins appear in other depictions of animals both cor- cushion-shaped seal. A lion at left rears right to bite rectly on the hindleg and incorrectly on the foreleg, the shoulder of a man who lifts his dagger to stab both interior and exterior; cf.