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VASE

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 75 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VASE GRINDING 108 See also:

WORK 111 109 See also:Ancient See also:Egyptian Tools. See also:lie in the See also:plane thus defined by two traces at the ends (P.M. VIII.). See also:Metal-Work.—See also:Copper was wrought into pins, a couple of inches See also:long, with See also:loop heads, as See also:early as the See also:oldest prehistoric See also:graves, before the use of See also:weaving, and while pottery was scarcely See also:developed. The use of harpoons and small See also:chisels of copper next arose, then broad flaying knives, needles and adzes, lastly the See also:axe when the metal was commoner. On these prehistoric tools, when in See also:fine See also:condition, the See also:original highly-polished See also:surface remains. It shows no trace of grinding lines or See also:attrition, nor yet of the blows of a See also:hammer. Probably it was thus highly finished by beating between polished See also:stone hammers which were almost See also:flat on the See also:face. Most likely the forms of the tools were See also:cast to begin with, and then finished and polished by fine hammering. A See also:series of moulds for casting in the XIIth See also:Dynasty show that the forms were carved out in thick pieces of pottery, and then lined with fine ashy See also:clay. The See also:mould was single, so that one See also:side of the See also:tool was the open face of metal. As early as the See also:pyramid times solid casting by cire perdue was already used for figures: but the copper statues of Pepi and his son seem, by their thinness and the piecing together of the parts, to have been entirely hammered out.

The See also:

portraiture in such hammer work is amazingly See also:life-like. By the See also:time of the XIIth Dynasty, and perhaps earlier, cire perdue casting over an ash core became usual. This was carried out most skilfully, the metal being often not nth in. thick, and the core truly centred in the mould. Casting See also:bronze over See also:iron rods was also done, to gain more stiffness for thin parts. In See also:gold work the earliest See also:jewelry, that of See also:King Zer of the Ist Dynasty, shows a perfect mastery of working hollow balls with See also:minute threading holes, and of soldering with no trace of excess nor difference of See also:colour. Thin See also:wire was hammered out, but there is no ancient instance of See also:drawn wire. Castings were not trimmed by filing or grinding, but by small chisels and hammering (P.R.T. ii. 17). In the XIIth Dynasty the soldering of the thin cells for the cloisonnee inlaid pectorals, on to the See also:base See also:plate, is a marvellous piece of delicacy; every See also:cell has to be perfectly true in See also:form, and yet all soldered, apparently simultaneously, as the See also:heat could not be applied to successive portions (M.D. i.). Such work was kept up in the XVIIIth and XXVIth Dynasties. There is nothing distinctive in later jewelry different from See also:Greek and See also:Roman work elsewhere. Glaze and See also:Glass.—From almost the beginning of the prehistoric See also:age there are glazed pottery beads found in the graves: and See also:glazing on amulets of See also:quartz or other stones begins in the See also:middle of the prehistoric.

Apparently then glazing went together with the working of the copper ores, and probably accidental slags in the smelting gave the first See also:

idea of using glaze intentionally. The development of glazing at the beginning of the dynasties was sudden and effective. Large tiles, a See also:foot in length, were glazed completely all over, and used to See also:line the walls of rooms; they were retained in See also:place by deep dovetails and ties of copper wire. Figures of glazed See also:ware became abundant; a See also:kind of visiting card was made with the figure of a See also:man and his titles to See also:present in temples which he visited; and glazed ornaments and toggles for fastening dresses were See also:common (P. Ab. ii.). Further, besides thus using glaze on a large See also:scale, differently coloured glazes were used, and even fused together. A piece of a large See also:tile, and See also:part of a glazed vase, have the royal titles and name of See also:Menes, originally in See also:violet inlay in See also:green glaze. There was no further advance in the See also:art until the See also:great variety of See also:colours came into use about 4000 years later. In the XIIth Dynasty a very thin smooth glaze was used, which became rather thicker in the XVIIIth. The most brilliant age of glazes was under Amenophis III. and his son Akhenaton. Various colours were used; beside the old green and See also:blue, there were See also:purple, violet, red, yellow and See also:white. And a profusion of forms is shown by the moulds and actual examples, for necklaces, decorations, inlay in stone and applied reliefs on vases.

Under Seti II. cartouches of the king in violet and white glaze are common; and under See also:

Rameses III. there were vases with See also:relief figures, with painted figures, and tiles with coloured reliefs of captives of many races. The latter development ofglazing was in thin delicate See also:apple-green ware with See also:low relief designs, which seem to have originated under Greek See also:influence at See also:Naucratis. The Roman glaze is thick and coarse, but usually of a brilliant Prussian blue, with dark purple and apple-green; and high reliefs of wreaths, and sometimes figures, are common. Though glaze begins so early, the use of the glassy See also:matter by itself does not occur till the XVIIIth Dynasty; the earlier reputed examples are of stone or frit. The first glass is See also:black and white under Tethmosis (Tahutmes) III. It was not fused at a high point, but kept in a pasty See also:state when working. The See also:main use of it was for small vases; these were formed upon a core of sandy See also:paste, which was modelled on a copper See also:rod, the rod being the core for the See also:neck. See also:Round this core threads of glass were See also:wound of various colours; the whole could be reset in the See also:furnace to soften it for moulding the foot or neck, or attaching handles, or dragging the surface into various patterns. The colours under later See also:kings were as varied as those of the glazes. Glass was also See also:wheel-cut in patterns and shapes under Akhenaton. In later times the main work was in mosaics of extreme delicacy. Glass rods were piled together to form a See also:pattern in See also:cross-See also:section.

The whole was then heated until it perfectly adhered, and the See also:

mass was drawn out lengthways so as to render the See also:design far more minute, and to increase the See also:total length for cutting up. The rod was then sliced across, and the pieces used for See also:inlaying. Another use of coloured glass was for cutting in the shapes of hieroglyphs for inlaying in wooden coffins to form See also:inscriptions. Glass amulets were also commonly placed upon Ptolemaic mummies. Blown glass vessels are not known until See also:late Greek and Roman times, when they were of much the same manufacture as glass elsewhere. The supposed figures of glass-blowers in early scenes are really those of smiths, blowing their fires by means of reeds tipped with clay. The variegated glass beads belonging to See also:Italy were greatly used in See also:Egypt in Roman times, and are like those found elsewhere. A distinctively late Egyptian use of glass was for weights and vase-stamps, to receive an impress stating the amount of the See also:weight or measure. The vase-stamps often state the name of the contents (always seeds or fruits), probably not to show what was in them, but to show for what kind of See also:seed the See also:vessel was a true measure. These measure stamps See also:bear names dating them from A.D. 68o to about 950. The large weights of ounces and pounds are disks or cuboid blocks; they are dated from 720 to 785 for the lesser, and to A.D.

915 for larger, weights. The greater number are, however, small weights for testing gold and See also:

silver coins of later caliphs from A.D. 952 to 1171. The See also:system was not, however, Arab, as there are a few Roman vase-stamps and weights. Of other See also:medieval glass may be noted the splendid glass vases for lamps, with Arab inscriptions fused in colours on the outsides. No enamelling was ever done by Egyptians, and the few rare examples are all of Roman age due to See also:foreign work. The manufacture of glass is shown by examples in the XVIIIth Dynasty. The blue or green colour was made by fritting together See also:silica, See also:lime, alkaline carbonate and copper carbonate; the latter varied from 3% in delicate blues to 20% in deep purple.blues. The silica was needed quite pure from iron, in See also:order to get the See also:rich blues, and was obtained from calcined quartz pebbles; See also:ordinary See also:sand will only make a green frit. These materials were heated in pans in the furnace so as to combine in a pasty, See also:half-fused condition. The coloured frit thus formed was used as paint in a wet state, and also used to dissolve in glass or to fuse over a surface in glazing. The See also:brown tints often seen in glazed See also:objects are almost always the result of the decomposition of green glazes containing iron.

The blue glazes, on the other See also:

hand, fade into white. The essential colouring materials are, for blue, copper; green, copper and iron; purple, See also:cobalt; red, See also:haematite; white, See also:tin. An entirely clear colourless glass was made in the XVIIIth Dynasty, but coloured glass was mainly used. After fusing a panful of coloured glass, it was sampled by taking pinches out with See also:tongs; when perfectly combined it was See also:left to cool in the See also:pan, as with See also:modern See also:optical glass. When See also:cold the pan was chipped away, and the cake of glass broken up into convenient pieces, See also:free of sediment and of scum. A broken lump would then be heated to softness in the furnace; rolled out under a See also:bar of metal, held diagonally across the See also:roll; and when reduced to a rod of a See also:quarter of an See also:inch thick, it was heated and pulled out into even rods about an eighth of an inch thick. These were used to See also:wind round glass vases, to form lips, handles, &c.; and to twist together for See also:spiral patterns. Glass See also:tube was similarly drawn out. Beads were made by winding thin threads of glass on copper wires, and the greater contraction of the copper freed the See also:bead when cold. The coiling of beads can always be detected by i) the little tails left at the ends, (2) the streaks, (3) the bubbles, seen with a magnifier. Roman glass beads are always drawn out, and nicked off hot, with striation lengthways; except the large opaque variegated beads which are coiled. Modern Venetian beads are similarly coiled.

In the XXIIIrd Dynasty beads of a rich transparent Prussian blue glass were made, until the XXVIth. About the same time the eyed beads, with white and brown eyes in a blue mass, also came in (P.A. 25-27, Plate XIII.). Pottery (see fig. 1i2).—The earliest See also:

style of pottery is entirely hand made, without any rotary See also:motion; the form being built up with a flat stick inside and the hand outside, and finally scraped and burnished in a See also:vertical direction. The necks of vases were the first part finished with rotation, at the middle and See also:close of the prehistoric age. Fully turned forms occur in the Ist Dynasty; but as late as the XIIth Dynasty the See also:lower part of small vases is usually trimmed with a See also:knife. In the earlier part of the prehistoric age there was a soft brown ware with haematite facing, highly burnished. This was burnt mouth-down in the See also:oven, and the ashes on the ground reduced the red haematite to black magnetic See also:oxide of iron; some traces of carbonyl in the ash helped to rearrange the See also:magnetite as a brilliant See also:mirror-like surface of intense black. The lower range of jars in the oven had then black tops, while the upper ranges were entirely red. A favourite decoration was by lines of white clay slip, in See also:crossing patterns, figures of animals, and, rarely, men. This is exactly of the modern Kabyle style in See also:Algeria, and entirely disappeared from Egypt very early in the prehistoric age.

Being entirely hand made, various See also:

oval, doubled and even square forms were readily shaped. The later prehistoric age is marked by entirely different pottery, of a hard See also:pink-brown ware, often with white specks in it, without any applied facing beyond an occasional pink See also:wash, and no polishing. It is decorated with designs in red line, imitating cordage and marbling, and drawings of See also:plants, ostriches and See also:ships. The older red polished ware still survived in a coarse and degraded See also:character, and both kinds together were carried on into the next age (P.D.P.). The early dynastic pottery not only shows the decadent end of the earlier forms, but also new styles, such as See also:grand jars of 2 or 3 ft. high which were slung in cordage, and which have See also:imitation lines of cordage marked on them. Large See also:ring-stands also were brought in, to support jars, so that the See also:damp surfaces should not See also:touch the dusty ground. The pyramid times show the great jars reduced to See also:short rough pots, while a variety of forms of See also:bowls are the most usual types (P.R.T.;. P.D.; P. Desh.) In the XIIth Dynasty a hard thin drab ware was common, like the modern qulleh See also:water flasks. Drop-shaped jars with spherical bases are typical, and scrabbled patterns of incised lines. Large jars of See also:light brown pottery were made for storing liquids and See also:grain, with narrow necks which just admit the hand (P.K.). The XVIIIth Dynasty used a rather softer ware, decorated at first with a red edge or See also:band around the See also:top, and under Tethmosis (Tahutmes) III. black and red lines were usual.

Under Amenophis III. blue frit paint was freely used, in lines and bands around vases; it spread to large surfaces under Amenophis IV., and continued in a poor style into the Ramesside age. In the latter part of the XVIIIth and the XIXth Dynasties a thick hard light pottery, with white specks and a polished drab-white facing, was generally used for all fine purposes. The XIXth and XXth Dynasties only show a degradation of thetypes of the XVIIIth; and even through to the XXVth Dynasty there is no new See also:

movement (P.K.; P.I; P.A.; P.S.T.). The XXVIth Dynasty was largely influenced by Greek amphorae imported with See also:wine and oil. The native pottery is of a very fine paste, smooth and thin, but poor in forms. Cylindrical cups, and jars with cylindrical necks and no brim, are typical. The small necks and trivial handles begin now, and are very common in Ptolemaic times (P.T. ii.). The great See also:period of Roman pottery is marked by the ribbing on the outsides. The amphorae began to be ribbed about A.D. 150, and then ribbing extended to all the forms. The ware is generally rather rough, thick and brown for the amphorae, thin and red for smaller vessels. At the See also:Constantine age a new style begins, of hard pink ware, neatly made, and often with " start-patterns " made by a vibrating tool while the vessel rotated: this was mainly used for bowls and cups (P.E.).

Of the later pottery of Arab times we have no precise knowledge. The abbreviations used above refer to the following See also:

sources of See also:information: M.D. See also:Morgan, Dahshur; P.A. See also:Petrie, Tell el Amarna; P. Ab. „ See also:Abydos; P.D. Dendereh; P. Desh. „ Deshasheh; P.D.P. Diospolis Parva; P.E. Ehnasya; P.I. „ See also:Mahan; P.K.

„ Kahun ; P.M. „ Medum; P.N. „ Naqada; P.R.T. „ Royal Tombs; P.S. „ See also:

Season in Egypt; P.S.T. „ Six Temples; P.T. „ Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh; P.T. ii. , Tanis, ii. ; Q.H. Quibell, Hieraconpolis. (W. M.

F. P.) Monuments.—The See also:

principal monuments that are yet remaining to illustrate the art and See also:history of Egypt may be best taken in See also:historical order. Of the prehistoric age there are many See also:rock carvings, associated with others of later periods: they principally remain on the See also:sandstone rocks about Silsila, and their age is shown by the figures of ostriches which were See also:extinct in later times. One painted See also:tomb was found at Nekhen (Hieraconpolis), now in the See also:Cairo Museum; the See also:brick walls were colour-washed and covered with irregular See also:groups of men, animals and ships, painted with red, black and green. The cemeteries otherwise only contain graves, cut in See also:gravel or brick lined, and formerly roofed with poles and brushwood. The Ist to IIIrd Dynasties have left at Abydos large forts of See also:brickwork, remains of two successive temples, and the royal tombs (see ABYDOS). Else-where are but few other monuments; at See also:Wadi Maghara in See also:Sinai is a rock See also:sculpture of Semerkhet of the Ist Dynasty in perfect state, at Giza is a See also:group of tombs of a See also:prince and See also:retinue of the Ist Dynasty, and at Giza and See also:Bet Khallaf are two large brick mastabas with extensive passages closed by See also:trap-doors, of kings of the IIIrd Dynasty. The main structure of this age is the step-pyramid of Sakkara, which is a See also:mastaba tomb with eleven successive coats of See also:masonry, enlarging it to about 350 by 390 ft. and 200 ft. high. In the interior is sunk in the rock a chamber 24 X23 ft. and 77 ft. high, with a See also:granite See also:sepulchre built in the See also:floor of it, and various passages and See also:chambers branching from it. The See also:doorway of one See also:room (now in See also:Berlin Museum) was decorated with polychrome glazed tiles with the name of King Neterkhet. The complex original work and various alterations of it need thorough study, but it is now closed and See also:research is forbidden. The IVth to Vlth Dynasties are best known by the series of pyramids (see PYRAMID) in the region of See also:Memphis.

Beyond these tombs, and the temples attached to them, there are very few fixed monuments; of See also:

Cheops and Pepi I. there are See also:temple See also:foundations at Abydos (q.v.), and a few blocks on other sites; of Neuserre (Raenuser) there is a See also:sun temple at Abusir; and of several kings there were tablets in Sinai, now inthe Cairo Museum. A few tablets of the IXth Dynasty have been found at Sakkara, and a tomb of a prince at See also:Assiut.

End of Article: VASE

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