Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/562

Decoration. 555 glass, and cubes of the same substance made up the borders. We have evidences that the employment of blue pastes, though necessarily costly at that period, was fairly general. Quantities of opaque glass squares have been found in the tombs : some, intended no doubt to be sewn on to the garment, are furnished with tubular appendages (Fig. 240), whilst others of larger dimensions were applied to sarcophagi and furniture (Fig. 241). Undulating lines, in imitation of sea-waves, seen on the wall- paintings, re-appear on blue pastes (Fig. 242). Were the buildings in better condition, we should doubtless find here other examples of glass ornament. Metal was far more serviceable than this brittle substance. Beaten out with the hammer into thin laminx, it could be cut of the required shape into facings and applied Fig, 341. — Glass plaque. Aclual si Fig. 242. — Plaster fTagmenl. pieces whose merit resided in great brilliancy and extreme solidity. For reasons easily grasped, very feeble traces of incrustations have been found in the ruins of the palace.' To estimate the importance of the services which the architect demanded of metal, we must turn to the bee-hive tombs, where both the facade and the interior of the vault exhibit dowel-holes into which were driven bronze nails that served to fix the ornament to the slabs (Figs. 162, 163, Pis. IV., VII.). Some of these nails are preserved in the Munich Antiquarium ; they are gilt-headed, and the colour of the gold is as yet of a soft brilliancy (Fig. 243). In the inner edifice, wood alone served as backing to metal plates ; timber furnished the sill, lintel, posts, and doors of the gate-ways, as well as the wainscoting of the apartments. In this symphony, each metal supplied its note, sad or gay, and the contrast gave out a harmony of tones the subtle charm of ' History vf Art.