The
skilful hand that should have finished it had perhaps to grasp
sword or spear in the last vain attempt to repel the assault of
the invader, and we can only wonder over his half-done work, and
imagine what untoward fate befell the worker, and for what unknown
master, if he survived the sack, he may have exercised the skill
that once gratified the refined taste of his Minoan lord.
Not far from the sculptor's workshop, and in the same quarter of
the palace, was found a splendid and convincing proof of the
magnificence of the appointments of the House of Minos in its palmy
days. This was a board which had evidently been designed for use
in some game, perhaps resembling draughts or chess, in which men
were moved to and fro from opposite ends. The board was over a
yard in length, and rather more than half a yard in breadth. Its
framework was of ivory, which had originally been overlaid with thin
gold plate, and it was covered with a mosaic of strips and discs
of rock-crystal, which in their turn had been backed alternately
with silver and blue enamel paste. Round its margin ran a border of
marguerites whose central bosses were convex discs of rock-crystal
which had probably been set originally in a blue paste background.
At the top of the board were four beautiful reliefs representing
nautilus shells, set round with crystal plaques, and bossed with
crystal.
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