To this age belong many of
the most interesting and precious relics of the Minoan culture.
The art of the period gradually undergoes a great change from that
of Middle Minoan II. Polychrome decoration steadily declines, and
is superseded by monochrome. The beautiful lustrous black glaze
ground of the vases is replaced by a dull purple slip on which
the decoration is often laid in a powdery white paint. The best
designs are found in this white upon a lilac or mauve ground. In
the designs themselves conventionalism and geometric ornament pass
away, and are followed by a development of naturalism. Dr. Mackenzie
has pointed out that it is to this growth of naturalism that we
must trace the gradual disappearance of polychrome decoration.
'Once we have the portrayal of natural objects, such as flowers,
which becomes so rife before the close of the Middle Minoan Age,
it soon becomes apparent that a scale of colours, which in their
relation to each other were capable of producing polychrome effects
of great beauty, was quite inadequate towards the reproduction of
the natural colours of objects. Thus green, for example, which is
the first necessity towards the rendering of leaves and stems, did
not exist in the colour repertory of the vase painter. The ceramic
artist must thus have felt that with his limited scale of colours
he could not produce the same natural effects as the wall-painter
with his.
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