男性小像だんせいしょうぞう

  • 東地中海地域
  • 前二千年紀中頃
  • 青銅
  • H-19

五、六千年ほど前、東地中海域のほぼ中央に位置するクレタ島は、金属加工技術とともに経済的な大発展をとげ、東地中海岸に近いキュプロス島、エジプト、その西のリビアまで交易網を広げていった。これをクレタ文明と呼ぶ。そして三千数百年前にはクレタに壮麗な諸宮殿が造営されるようになった。クレタの宮廷工房は輸入した材料で金、銀、象牙等の細工物を生産し、クレタ、キュプロス、シリア、エジプトを結ぶ交易路を通じ取引された。地中海域を活発に往来した彼らは、エジプトの記録では“海洋の民”として知られていた。彫刻、壁画、工芸品などに見られる彼らの感性は繊細かつ動的で、生命感のある自然の描写を好んだ。ミノアの神々の中でも女神が特に崇拝された。その神殿は山頂あるいは山腹にあって、そこに人々は自らの姿を象った礼拝像を奉納した。主に青銅で作られたこれらの像は、等しく右手に拳を握って額にあて、背中を反らせて上空に出現した神を礼拝する姿勢を示す。この男性像はカールした長髪をも精緻に作り出し、均整のとれたすぐれた筋肉表現も見られる。彼らは神に仕える王族や貴族の身代わりとしての小像であり、神の御前で永遠に礼拝し続けるその表情は、彼らの壁画にも共通した天性の明るさを持ったほほえみをたたえている。

解説(古代バクトリア遺宝展)

10男性小像
前二千年紀中頃
青銅
高19.0 cm
11婦人小像
前二千年紀中頃
青銅
高13.5 cm
 上体を反らして直立する2体の小像は、等しく左手を下に右手を額に当て仰ぎ見る仕草をしている。婦人像は波打つ髪を頭の後方で結い、腰の後ろまで垂らす。上衣は半袖で体に密着し、襟の装飾帯が首から胸の脇を通り腹部で合わさる形式で胸を大きく強調している。腰に太い帯を三重に巻き、細く締めて右脇で結わえ、前面中央に装飾帯と両脇に襞あるいは重ねの見られる裾の広がった長いスカートをはいている。男性像は驚くべき繊細な手法で長くウエーブのかかった髪が作り出され、短いズボンを着け、靴を履いている。
 これに類する男性及び女性を象った青銅小像は、ミノア中期から後期にかけて多くの岩窟の神殿、そして山頂の神殿あるいは家の祠堂に奉納されたものである。この姿が上方に顕現した神を礼拝するものであったことが、当時の指輪に陰刻された場面から理解される。
 これら一連の小像は蝋型鋳造法で作られ、男性像は無垢の鋳造、女性像は上体が無垢で、スカート内部は空洞に鋳造されている。この2体の像も同様の造りであるが、一房ずつ作り出された髪やイヤリング、ネックレス、ブレスレットそして衣服の装飾帯などに見る繊細な表現は稀に見るものである。知られている女性像の類例は概ね像高10センチ以内という小さいもので、あまり細部の表現には関心のないものが殆どである。
 この女性像は同時期のクレタ島、テラ島やバルカン半島の宮殿などの遺跡から出土した壁画に見られる女性像と、その宝飾品や衣服の様式など細部に多くの共通点をもっている。男性像はクレタ島出土のミノア後期青銅製男性像の類例ほどには湾曲した体勢の表現はないが、着衣やブレスレット、靴そして両腕の仕草が全く同一のものである。同様の様式をもった男性像はクレタ島ハギアトリアダ由来の凍石製の器にも見られるが、これは高い身分の人物を表している。同時代には王を含め王族は祭祀においても神官、女神官であって、これらの近似例と同様に本作品も各々かなり身分の高い人物のために作られたものと思われる。

婦人小像

Catalogue Entry(Bac#010,#011)

10
Male Figure
Mid-2nd millennium B.C.
Bronze
H. 19.0 cm
11
Female Figure
Mid-2nd millennium B.C.
Bronze
H. 13.5 cm
This pair of small figures stand with their bodies tilted backward and both are seen with their left hand held down while their right hands are held up to their foreheads. The woman has wavy hair which is bound on the back of her head and hangs to the back of her hips. Her upper body is clothed in a tight-fitting short-sleeved garment, while a decorative collar extends from the neck to both sides of the chest to meet over the belly, thereby greatly emphasizing the breasts. The waist is wrapped in three layers of thick bands which are narrowly bound and fastened at the right side. The front center of her skirt is decorated with a band and the long skirt has either folds on each side or a layered hem. The male figure has long wavy hair depicted in an amazingly detailed form. He wears short pants, and is wearing shoes.
Similar small male and female figures in bronze have been found in many of the cave temples dating from the Middle Minoan to the Late Minoan period, and they were also worshipped in mountain top temples or on home altars. This form is said to represent a worshipper honoring a god appearing from above, and this interpretation was confirmed by intaglio carving found on a ring of the period.
This pair of small figures was made by the lost wax casting method, and while the male figure was solid cast, only the upper body of the female figure was solid cast, while her lower body was hollow cast. These two figures have the same kind of handling, while the detailed handling of motifs was quite rare, particularly that seen in the individual locks of hair, earrings, necklace, bracelet and decorative bands on the garments. Similar examples of female figures are generally less than 10 centimeters in height, and the majority of them do not show this attention to detailed handling of motifs.
There are many similarities in the details and styles of jewelry and clothing between this female figure and the female figures excavated on Crete, Thera, and those seen in the wall paintings excavated from the ruins of temples on the Balkan peninsula. The male figure does not exhibit the bowed body posture found on the similar bronze male figures of the Late Minoan period excavated on Crete, but his clothing, bracelets, shoes and positions of both arms are exactly the same. A male figure in the same style on a soapstone vessel comes from the Hagia Triada on Crete and it is thought that this represents a high ranking person. During this period the king and the royal family also acted as priests and priestesses in ritual events, and the resemblance of the two exhibited works to such examples leads to the thought that they were both created for high-ranking people.

婦人小像

Catalogue Entry

This woman statuette (cat. no. 013) stands upright but bends her upper body slightly backwards as if to look up at something, holding her right hand at her forehead. Her left arm is held by her side. Her wavy hair is braided behind the head, and hangs down to reach her waist. She is wearing a short-sleeved and tight-fitting shirt emphasizing her breast. A broad belt wraps around her waist three times, and is knotted on the right side. With a decorative sash hanging down the front center, she wears large earrings, a two-fold necklace, and bracelets. Delicate and detailed expressions abound in this work. This statuette has features in common with those of priestesses of the mid- to late Minoan era, made of faience, and with female images seen in murals excavated from the remains of temples on Crete. The male statuette (cat. no. 012), in a similar posture and perhaps belonging to the same group, was produced using a surprisingly delicate method in the expression of wavy hair, accessories, and muscle tone. This also has features in common with the male images seen in steatite vessels of later Minoa from Crete.
Small bronze statuettes modeled after a man or a woman like the present pieces were dedicated to many temples in caves or on the summit of mountains, as well as in private homes from the mid- to late Minoan era.
This pose is apparently that of a worshipping follower of a religion whose god has just made an appearance in the sky. These two statuettes represent royal or aristocratic persons devoted to the service of a god, and as sur rogates of such persons symbolize their constant and eternal worship before that god. Their facial expressions, with their radiant smiles, are of a kind also seen on human figures in Minoan Art.