Types of Pottery
The Egyptians made two kinds of pottery--the one,
ordinary soft pottery; the other, a coarse, gritty
compound, loose in its character and lacking cohesion,
sandy, easily crumbled, very white, but always covered
with a strong glaze or enamel. This material was chiefly
used for small objects, seldom for vases. We found at
Thebes, in 1856, a fragment of a vase of this ware (Ill.
9) which must have been nearly a foot in height, which
is covered with a thick white stanniferous enamel, and
decorated with figures and hieroglyphs in purple. There
are smaller vases in our collection, amphora-shaped, of
the same material, measuring from four to six inches in
height. Cups and bowls were formed of it, on which
figures were painted in color generally in black, and
also lotus-flowers and other Egyptian emblematic
designs. These pictures are usually in outline, rude in
execution, much inferior to the work of many Egyptian
artists who painted on stone or on papyrus. The beauty
of the enamel on these objects has been the envy of
potters in modern times. The blue has never been
surpassed, if, indeed, it has ever been equalled.
Objects three thousand years old retain the splendor of
their original color; and this leads to the inference
that the variety of the shades of blue found on them is
not the result of time, but the original intent of the
makers. These shades vary from the most intense bleu-de-roi
and pure turquoise to pale-blue tints approaching white.
The color is usually remarkably uniform on the object.
Several of the rare colors of old Chinese porcelain are
thus found in ancient Egyptian enamels. The same enamel
was occasionally applied to soft pottery.
Of unglazed pottery Egypt produced several varieties.
The most common was the ordinary red, cream-colored, and
yellow, sometimes in the later periods, under the Greeks
and Romans, polished so as to appear like lustrous
pottery. Another variety of pottery found in Egypt has a
creamy-white surface resembling pipe-clay, the paste
very hard and compact, the surface polished, and
presenting almost the appearance of stanniferous enamel
not perfectly white. It may be questioned, however,
whether this ware was made in Egypt. It is abundant in
Cyprus, and it is possible that objects found in Egypt
were imported from Cyprus. After the Egyptian conquest
of Cyprus, about 1440 B.C., and even at an earlier time,
the two countries may have interchanged products.
It is not certain that Egypt ever burned brick. The
absence of rain in that country made it unnecessary.
Sun-dried brick were used for the construction of houses
and walls, and the fact that to the present day
thousands of these bricks retain their form and
position, and even the stamps of the kings in whose
reigns they were made, shows how useless burning would
have been. It is supposed by some authorities that the
burned brick which are occasionally found are the
results of accidental fire. Others suppose that bricks
were baked when intended for use in wet places. For
ordinary purposes, the Egyptian brick were more masses
of sun-dried Nile mud, moulded usually of a large size,
sometimes 20 inches long, more commonly smaller; seldom,
however, less than 13 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 by 4 1/2;
sometimes strengthened by the admixture of cut straw,
used as modern plasterers use hair in mortar.
The forms of Egyptian pottery were numerous. Vases
were made chiefly for use, and not for ornament. The
amphora, in Egypt as in all ancient countries the most
common and most useful vase, was made in all sizes, from
the three-inch oil or perfume holder to the immense jar
of three or four feet in height, for holding water,
wine, oil, or grain. The pithos (so called by the
Greeks), an immense tub, cask, or vase of pottery, was
made in Egypt as in all the Oriental countries. It was
the household cellar, in which meats and provisions were
stored. This was sometimes six feet in diameter, always
made of coarse unglazed pottery.
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Introduction
| History of Egyptian Pottery |
Early Egyptian Pottery |
Types of Pottery | Artwork of Egyptian Pottery |
Users Of Egyptian Pottery | Examples Of Egyptian Pottery
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