, he has begun
to supplement the familiar white on the dark slip by adding yellow,
orange, red, and crimson. The Petsofa figurines, already alluded
to, which belong to this period, have a colour scheme of black
and white, red and orange. Along with this development of the use
of colour goes a corresponding advance in design. The motives of
the former period are continued, but are much more developed, and
more freely handled. Instead of being stiffly disposed in bands
round the vessel, they are now frequently grouped with the idea
of covering the ground of the vases in a graceful manner without
any attempt at formal definition of the limits of each article of
the design, the artist's idea being simply to fill, in a manner
satisfying to the eye, the space upon which he had to work. The
zonal system still persists side by side with the freer style,
and is often very skilfully handled as a means of decoration. One
of the characteristic features of Middle Minoan ceramic art--the
use of relief to enhance the effect of the polychrome decoration
through the addition of contrasts of light and shade--is seen coming
into use in the earliest part of the period.
Decoration is still geometric, and was to continue so for long.
Not until Middle Minoan III. do we get a really naturalistic style
of decorative art.
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