Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/388

Characteristics of Mycenian Sculpture. 335 without calling up to the mind a whole series of noble and charming images. Even without the treasures which the soil of Mycenae has yielded, a glance at the walls and buildings attributed to the Cyclopes would have sufficed to make us realize how vast was the difference between the island hamlets and the agglomera- tions formed around the powerful citadels of continental Greece. Nevertheless, from the graves representing the oldest Mycenae which we can ever hope to reach, no figures in the round, no stone statuettes, have been brought out except clay idols, and these are scarcely superior to the marble idols of the Cyclades. As to the amazing rudeness of the sculpture seen on the stelae which were set up above these sepultures, it is to be explained by the stubbornness of the material the artist had to his hand ; this, unlike the fine white marble of the islands, did not tempt- ingly meet him half-way. There is yet another reason why stone sculpture should have made such slow progress in Argolis, namely, the wealth of this community, the enormous part played by the precious metals, and consequently the pre-eminence of the metal-worker or goldsmith, the privileged servant of prince and noble, over every other craftsman. The metal-worker transforms the gold which trade, the chances of war, or piracy bring in abundance to the tribal chieftains, into all manner of personal ornaments, vases for the table, and weapons cunningly wrought. Gold is the principal factor of that culture ; we might almost say, in forcing somewhat the present meaning of the word, that the gold standard was the only standard known to the Mycenian community. The astonishing proficiency of the metal- worker can only be accounted for by the enormous quantity of gold which that society possessed, and the use it made of it.^ The Trojan goldsmith was considerably more advanced than the sculptor and the potter. We have evidences that in the Cyclades he mainly. worked in silver, and gained some skill in his craft; but his decisive progress was made at Mycenae, where kings placed ingots without number at his disposal. Metal technique has resources which are unknown to wood and stpne. Metal lends itself to be fused and cast ; beaten out flat or in relief with the hammer, stamped in a mould, engraved with the point, rounded into balls, lengthened into thin leaves, pulled into fine threads or ^ This is well understood by Tsoundas, MvKfjvai,