Egyptian faience

Egyptian faience in hieroglyphics
1. Notation	tjehenet ṯḥnt faience
2. Notation	tjehenet ṯḥnt faience
"Blue hippopotamus" ( Hippopotamus William ) from Mair (12th Dynasty)

In archeology and Egyptology, Egyptian faience is a material that consists of around 95% quartz sand (more precisely: ground sand or sandstone ) and is mixed with clay , metal oxides , lime and alkalis . It was shaped, fired and mostly covered with a green-blue glaze and used for decoration and utility purposes. This technique was not limited to Egypt. Objects were also made from this material in many regions of Europe and the Ancient Near East . The Egyptian faience must be strictly differentiated from clays with opaque lead or tin oxide glazes , which today are called faience after the Italian city ​​of Faenza (see faience ). Faience objects have enjoyed great popularity at all times in Egyptian history. Tiles , vases , figures of gods and even toys were made from Egyptian faience .

terminology

The ancient Egyptians called their faience Tjehenet ( ṯḥnt ) or, more rarely, Chesbedj ( ḫsb, ), which was also used for lapis lazuli . Both words are closely related to “shine” or “shimmer”, which highlights the role of faience as an artificial gemstone. This does not mean, however, that faience was viewed as inferior lapis or turquoise , although the term “real lapis” was sometimes used for the mineral .

The ancient Greeks called the Egyptian faience kyanos ( κυανος ), which literally means "bluish" and could also designate the gemstone lapis lazuli . The Romans described Egyptian faience as Caeroleum , which also means "bluish". They believed that Egyptian faience was invented in Alexandria . From the 19th dynasty of Egypt the rare official title Imi-ra iru-chesbedj (in English: "Overseer of the faience manufacturers") has been handed down.

As Alfred Lucas noted, faience is actually not the most appropriate term for the material. The term "quartz ceramic" is preferred in German-speaking countries. In order to distinguish it from the clayey faience, which got its name from the Italian city of Faenza and which is now sometimes also referred to as majolica , the material is also referred to as "Egyptian faience". However, the material was widespread in ancient times and appears in Mesopotamia , the Mediterranean and Northern Europe as far as Scotland . Most of the time the material was made locally. The term Egyptian faience would then be confusing in these contexts and the element Egyptian has therefore now been omitted.

composition

The basic substance of ordinary Egyptian faience consists of around 95% quartz sand (i.e. ground sand or sandstone ), which is mixed with clay , metal oxides and lime , which are all the components required for glass formation, with the exception of alkalis , which are made from similar raw materials such as calcium , Silicates and soda or potash . Depending on the iron oxide content , the kernels could have brown-gray, very dark, yellowish, reddish, dull blue and greenish tones. The coarser the sand, the less firm the kernels were. Finely chopped up, transparent river pebbles resulted in hard, white kernels, which were used in particular for the small faiences.

From the 22nd dynasty onwards, there are also “glassy faiences”, which are classified according to the mix ratio of the basic substances and processing method between faience and glass . At the same time, lead-containing glazes appeared for the first time , with which not only faience objects but also pottery could be glazed.

Manufacturing

Representation from the tomb of Ibi ( TT36 ) in Thebes. The worker on the right presumably kneads the basic substance into a malleable mass and the worker on the left forms an object.

Preparing the basic substance

Similar to the production of pottery , the basic substance was kneaded with water to form a malleable mass and, after drying, it was kilned for several hours at around 800 ° Celsius . In some cases , vitrifying sintered bodies were created .

The glaze , which was also fired, was made from a mixture of finely powdered sand, lime, soda and copper oxide. This mixture was crushed after the fire and mixed with water. The basic core was dipped into it or doused with it. Finally, the object was fired again at around 650 ° -700 ° C in order to obtain a firm glaze.

to form

The basic core could be shaped like pottery clay and reworked after drying or firing. Vessels were freely formed, on a potter's wheel or in half-bowl forms. Tiles and architectural decorations were made by hand. Holes and eyelets for figurative works, inlays, pendants, etc. were made by pushing wires or straw-like material through and removing them after the fire or after it had decomposed. Faience could also be fired in molds if a separating intermediate layer had been applied beforehand. The largest preserved faiences were also sculpted by hand, namely the approx. 2 m high Was scepter Amenophis II. And the approx. 0.60 m tall lions from Qantir , which were worked in several parts and put together on wooden pegs and glazed.

Pictorial representations of faience manufacture are rare. Archaeological references to faience workshops, however, have been preserved in many places, mostly in the vicinity of royal residences and temples , for example in Malqata , Amarna , Gurob , Qantir , Tell el-Yahudiya , Naukratis , Memphis and Abydos . Mostly it was about finds like raw materials, instruments, clay molds and waste. Fireplaces and remains of stoves, however, could be observed less often.

ornament

Decorated faience bowl from the Middle Kingdom

The glazes were predominantly blue-greenish - the color symbolism of the talismans that ward off evil . Occasionally they were bright blue in the Middle Kingdom and at the beginning of the New Kingdom. Many colors were added later. In the late period they were mostly pale greenish and in the Ptolemaic-Roman times greenish.

Before the fire, ornaments and lettering could be applied to the dried glaze substance. For this purpose, paints containing manganese and carbon were used in linear brush painting . This reached its climax in depictions of shore landscapes with plants , fish , birds , girls and other things, from the Middle Kingdom on hippopotamus bodies and vases, especially on drinking bowls from the New Kingdom.

Different colored glaze layers could also be applied one on top of the other to the base body: at the bottom the dark colors that withstand repeated firing, and finally the light colors that change slightly in the fire. Samples could also be scratched from the base color and filled with glaze pastes of different colors. There are also faience inlays such as rosettes , hieroglyphics and imitations of semi-precious stones.

Use of the finished goods

As already mentioned at the beginning, a wide variety of decorative and useful objects were made from Egyptian faience: tiles, bowls, vases, cups, figures of gods and figurines, but also scarabs , earrings , bracelets , shabtis and even toys were made from faience. Most were intended as grave goods , but some jewelry objects actually seem to have been worn during the lifetime of the owner. Faience objects were also exported as barter goods ; trading partners included Syria , Byblos and the Levant .

Art history

Vessel fragment with the name of Hor-Aha (1st Dynasty)	Faience tiles from the tomb of Djoser (3rd dynasty)	Scarab with loose wings (Greco-Roman era)

Egyptian faience has been documented since the end of the predynastic period. Archaeological finds come from the tombs of Naqada and Tarchan . Most of the finds are pearls and amulets in the form of royal Serechs with Horus falcons , but cylinder seals are also documented. Faience production seems to have experienced its first heyday during the early dynastic era : For example, from the tomb of the king ( Pharaoh ) Aha ( 1st dynasty ) in Abydos comes a fragment of faience with the name of the king on it. Oval faience plaques with the stylized heads of hedgehogs on their fronts come from the Elephantine island in the Nile . In the Old Kingdom were figurines and vases produced, the most famous faience objects but certainly include the famous "Blue chambers" in grave labyrinth under the Step Pyramid of King Djoser ( 3rd Dynasty ) in Sakkara . Also famous are the gold-decorated faience tiles of King Neferefre ( 5th Dynasty ), found in his pyramid temple . Several artfully decorated ornamental and toy figures come from the Middle Kingdom , the famous " Blue Hippopotamus " ( 12th Dynasty ) from Mair . From the New Kingdom onwards, so-called shabtis and scarabs made of faience were also made as grave goods, the shabtis of Ramses II ( 19th dynasty ) and the shabti of Taharqa ( 25th dynasty ) are known. Small to medium-sized, paddle-shaped figures made of faience with real human hair date from the Greco-Roman period ; it is unclear whether they are children's toys or ritual votive figures . Due to the clearly sexual decoration of symbols , however, the latter is mostly assumed.

See also

• Glass in ancient Egypt

literature

• Florence Dunn Friedman (Author), Georgina Borromeo, Mimi Leveque (Eds.): Gifts of the Nile: ancient Egyptian faience. Thames and Hudson, London 1998, ISBN 0-500-23754-9 , pp. 101-194.
• Rainer Hannig : The language of the pharaohs. Large concise dictionary of Egyptian-German: (2800–950 BC) (= cultural history of the ancient world. Vol. 86). von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2609-2
• Alexander Kaczmarczyk, Robert EM Hedges: Ancient Egyptian Faience. Aris & Phillips, Warminster (UK) 1983, ISBN 0-85668-221-7 .
• Christine Lilyquist, Robert H. Brill, MT Wypyski: Studies in Early Egyptian Glass. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993, ISBN 0-87099-683-5 .
• Alfred Lucas: Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. London, 1948 (3rd edition).
• Paul T. Nicholson, Edgar Peltenburg: Egyptian faience. In: Paul T. Nicholson, Ian Shaw (Eds.): Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK) 2000, ISBN 0-521-45257-0 , pp. 177-194.
• Paul T. Nicholson: Egyptian Faience and Glass (= Shire Egyptology. Volume 18). Osprey Publishing, Oxford (UK) 1993, ISBN 0-7478-0195-9 .
• Edgar Peltenburg: Early faience: recent studies, origins and relations with glass. In: Michael Bimson, Ian Freestone (eds.): Early Vitreous Materials (= British Museum Occasional Paper. Vol. 56), British Museum Press, London 1987, ISBN 978-0-86159-056-8 , pp. 5-29 .
• Birgit Schlick-Nolte: Faience. In: Wolfgang Helck , Wolfhart Westendorf (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume 2. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-447-01876-3 , pp. 138-142.
• Toby AH Wilkinson : Early Dynastic Egypt: Strategies, Society and Security. Routledge, London 2001, ISBN 0-415-26011-6 , pp. 70, 308.

Web links

Commons : Egyptian Faience  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Egyptian faience and glassware on Digital Egypt (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rainer Hannig: The language of the pharaohs . Pp. 619 & 960.
2. ↑ S. Aufrère: L'univers mineral dans la pensée égyptienne. P. 465.
3. ^ Paul T. Nicholson, Edgar Peltenburg: Egyptian faience. In: Paul T. Nicholson, Ian Shaw (Eds.): Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. P. 178.
4. ^ ^{A b c d} Paul T. Nicholson, Edgar Peltenburg: Egyptian faience. In: Paul T. Nicholson, Ian Shaw (Eds.): Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology . Pp. 177-186.
5. ^ Alfred Lucas: Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries , 4th Edition, London, 1962, p. 156.
6. ^ Ralf-Bernhard Wartke: Quartz ceramics in the Middle East . In: Ralf Busz, Peter Gercke: Turquoise and Azure: Quartz Ceramics in the Orient and Occident . Wolfratshausen, 1999, p. 52.
7. ↑ RS Moorey: Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries. Oxford, 1994.
8. ^ J. Stone, C. Thomas: The use and distribution of faience in the Ancient East and Prehistoric Europe. In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (PPS) 22nd Edition 1956, pp. 37-84.
9. ^ RG Newton: Recent views on ancient glasses. In: Glass Technology 21/4, 1980, pp. 173-183
10. ^ RG Newton, C. Renfrew: British faience beads reconsidered. In: Antiquity 44th Edition 1976, pp. 199-206.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Birgit Schlick-Nolte: Faience. Pp. 138-142.
12. ↑ Birgit Schlick-Nolte: Faience. P. 141.
13. ^ WMF Petrie, JE Quibell: Naqada and Ballas. London, 1896, p. 68, pl. 78. ( online )
14. ^ William C. Hayes: Glazed Tiles from a Palace of Ramesses II at Kantir. P. 8 note 37, pl. 5.
15. ↑ Birgit Schlick-Nolte: Faience. P. 140.
16. ↑ Norman de Garis Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi. Part I. - Tomb of Aba and smaller Tombs of the Southern Group (= Archaeological Survey of Egypt. Eleventh Memoir). London 1902 ( online ); Hans Kayser: Egyptian handicrafts. A guide for collectors and enthusiasts. P. 113, fig. 104.
17. ↑ Schlick-Nolte: Faience. P. 180 ff.
18. ↑ Schlick-Nolte: Faience. In: Lexicon of Egyptology. 2, col. 140 f.
19. ^ Toby AH Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. Pp. 70, 308.