Diversions of a NaturalistLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
Diversions of a Naturalist
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history
M. Houssay further points out the existence on some of the Mykenæan
pottery of drawings (see "L'Ossuaire de Crète," by MM. Perrot and
Chipiez) of leaves attached to tree-like stems. These leaves (Fig.
18, a, b, c) exhibit the same markings ("venation") which we see on
the bodies of the geese in Fig. 16, especially the middle one of the
five. The leaves (or fruits?) copied by M. Houssay from the Mykenæan
pottery are attached in a series to a stem--but no one, at present,
has suggested what plant it is which is represented. The corners of
the leaf or fruit to the right and left of its stalk are thrown into
a spiral--and the half leaf or half fruit represented in Fig. 18, b,
leads us on to that drawn in Fig. 18, c, in which the spiral corner is
slightly modified in curvature so as to resemble the head and neck of
the goose as drawn in Fig. 16. Though Fig. 18, c, is as yet devoid of
legs or wing feathers (compare Fig. 16, d), the black band along the
belly with the band of vertical markings above it agrees closely with
the design on the body of the middle goose of the series drawn in Fig.
16. As these are associated in the decoration of the Mykenæan artists,
it is fairly evident that the intention has been to manipulate the
drawing of the leaf or fruit so as to make it resemble the drawing of
the goose, whilst that in its turn is modified so as to emphasize or
idealize its points of resemblance to a barnacle.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Leaves from the tree, drawn on a Mykenæan pot
which, according to M. Perrot, are fancifully designed so as to assume
step by step (a, b, c) the form of a goose. This appears either to
represent the tree which, according to legend, produced birds as buds
on its branches, or to be a fanciful design which gave rise to that
legend. The artist's intention of making the leaf gradually pass into
the semblance of a goose, is strongly emphasized by the purely fanciful
"venation" of the leaf which agrees with the equally fanciful ornament
of the bodies of the geese in Fig. 16, especially the middle one of the
series.]
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