Th ese techniques were utilized on many forms throughout
the history of Egyptian ceramic production. Modeling of
the vessel wall was frequently done in Egypt. Th e clay of the
wall would be manipulated by hand, oft en to create human or
animal forms out of either the entire vessel or portions of the
wall. Sometimes modeled elements, oft en depicting animals,
were attached to the rim or shoulder of a vessel. Incision and
fenestration were decorative techniques employed on leather-
hard vessels and were more likely to be used for nondomestic
wares. Using the former technique, designs would be cut into
the clay with a reed or knife; with the latter, sections of the
vessel would be cut out in various patterns.
Th roughout the history of pottery production in Egypt,
painting was a major method of decoration. Paint common-
ly had ochre (red and yellow), charcoal (black), manganese
(black), or cobalt (blue) bases. Paint was applied with fi ngers
or with reed brushes either before or aft er fi ring. Painted ves-
sels became most popular during the New Kingdom, when
“blue-painted” and polychrome decorations began to appear
on nondomestic wares. Ships were common images on Pre-
dynastic and Protodynastic pottery of the late fourth millen-
nium b.c.e. Flora and fauna were popular motifs all through
the era of Egyptian pottery production. Human fi gures were
popular on early painted vessels, and returned to fashion be-
ginning in the New Kingdom.
THE MIDDLE EAST
BY TOM STREISSGUTH
In Mesopotamia, the “land between” the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, the abundant red clay could be shaped by hand or on
a potter’s wheel, hardened over a fl ame, glazed, and painted.
Th is earthenware pottery was used for preserving and storing
food, such as grain, oil, beer, water, and wine, and for drink-
ing vessels, plates, statuary, writing tablets, and seals. As one
of the most durable objects of antiquity, pottery also serves
as a valuable tool for modern archaeologists. Th e distinctive
st yles a nd colors used in di ff erent eras allow historians to date
surrounding homes and streets found at the same level with
remnants. Th e shape and size of pottery also give strong clues
as to how it was made and used; its thickness testifi es to its
method of transport. (Th in-walled storage pottery, for exam-
ple, traveled by boat, and thus reveals a civilization in contact
via overseas trade with foreign lands and cultures.)
Th e earliest Mesopotamian pottery, from the site of
Hassuna and dating to 7000 b.c.e., was hand-shaped, lightly
fi red, unglazed, and simply decorated with lines incised
into the surface. Later designs included painted geometric
forms, such as rectangular lozenges and zigzag lines. Halaf
pottery (5900–5300 b.c.e.) from northern Mesopotamia is
sometimes dubbed “fi neware” because of the smooth sur-
faces that allowed potters to apply white slip (thin, watery
paint) as a ground for red or black paint, mixed from oxi-
dized ores, on the fi nished product. Charcoal was used to
produce black paint; ground gypsum produced white paint.
Halaf pottery carried a wide variety of geometric motifs;
animal forms, such as birds, leopards, deer, and rams’
heads; and depictions of feasting, ceremonial processions,
and other human activities. Artisans of the Halaf Period
also produced ceramic fi gurines that may have been used in
religious ceremonies or as votive objects in the home. Th ese
statues display exaggerated female features with clothes and
adornments painted on their surfaces.
Th e pottery of the Ubaid culture (5300–4000 b.c.e.) orig-
inated in southern Mesopotamia and gradually spread to the
north as well as to Persia (modern-day Iran) and the Arabian
Peninsula. Ubaid objects—drinking cups, storage jars, bowls,
and plates—were made of darker clay, and they oft en had a
brown or green tint. Simple household pots were roughly
shaped and undecorated and were provided with small lugs or
knobs on their sides, which allowed them to be easily carried.
A distinctive feature of higher-quality Ubaid vessels is a wide
rim that fl ares out from the vessel’s mouth. Some Ubaid ce-
ramics were the fi rst to be produced on potter’s wheels, which
allowed the making of larger and more symmetrical forms
that could be turned out at a much faster rate. Clay fi gurines
from this period are much slimmer than those of the Halaf
era and have more elaborate clothing and adornments.
Th e Uruk culture of the fourth millennium b.c.e. was
the fi rst to mass-produce pottery on a wheel. Th e produc-
tion of pottery moved from the household into the hands of
professional artisans, who turned out storage vessels by the
thousands for the use of traders and merchants. Most of these
industrial pieces went unpainted, but ceramic artists had de-
veloped cedar oil as a painting medium. Cobalt was groundCeramic bowl with abstract decoration, from Tall-i-Bakun in modern-
day Iran (Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)178 ceramics and pottery: The Middle East