Drawings : Drawings of Ivory Objects

Drawings

<p style='text-align: justify;'>The drawings collated in this album all pertain to ivory objects excavated at Mycenae between 1939-1955. The ivory trio 39-165 was a celebrated find (ca. 1450 BCE) at the foot of the north terrace wall that constitutes the northern foundations of the Archaic Temple above. In the same findspot a plaster head of a male was found, see drawing <a href='/view/MS-CLASSICS-MCNE-00002-00003-00013/1'>MCNE-2-3-13-01</a></p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The majority of ivories featured in these drawings were excavated in the 1950s outside the citadel in the House of the Oil Merchant ‘(ca. 1300-1250 BCE), which transpired to be flanked north and south by further buildings, named after the predominant patterns of ivory carving found within: the House of Shields and the House of Sphinxes. Known collectively as ‘the Ivory Houses’ (over 18,000 ivory fragments were eventually unearthed there), material in other media and Linear B tablets were also discovered.</p>