the period depicting cartouches (oval or oblong decorations
framing a ruler’s name), hieroglyphs, and human fi gures.
Bowls and chalices were common vessel forms. In the Twenty
Sixth Dynasty (ca. 664–525 b.c.e.) ushabtis and model sistra
(musical instruments of the percussion family) became in-
creasingly popular forms.
Little glass is found in Egypt before the New Kingdom,
and research indicates that what has been found was probably
imported. Because glassmaking appears as a fully formed in-
dustry early in the New Kingdom, it is possible that foreign
glassmakers were brought to Egypt to develop a native indus-
try. Regardless of who produced New Kingdom glass, this pe-
riod was the peak of Egyptian glass production. Production
was in full swing and highly developed by the reign of Th ut-
mose III (r. 1479–1425 b.c.e.) A number of workshops are
known from the New Kingdom, especially from the palace of
Malkata, near Th ebes, and from Amarna. Glass production
was on the decline by the late Twentieth Dynasty (1196–1070
b.c.e.) and continued on a reduced scale from that time.
During the New Kingdom several techniques were used
to create glass objects. Vessels were almost entirely core-
formed, or shaped around a center rod; they could also be
mold-made. Glass could be worked like stone using a tech-
nique known as cold cutting, with the glass being chipped
away and sculpted with a hammer and chisel. Molding and
cold cutting were oft en combined to create glass sculptures
in the round, a unique practice in the ancient world. Core
forming was slowly replaced by blowing as the most common
vessel-making technique in the Graeco-Roman Period.
Nets, bags, baskets, and matting were created by ancient
Egyptians out of a limited range of materials, usually palm
leaves and grasses but occasionally reeds and rushes. Basketry
has been found in some quantity at certain sites. Additional
information can be gleaned from mud impressions that were
oft en made when old matting or basketry pieces were incor-
porated into building materials for new constructions as a
means of reinforcement.
S e ve r a l t e c h n iqu e s we re u s e d t o c re at e b a s k e t r y i n a nc i e nt
Egypt, but coiled basketry predominated from Prehistoric
until Ptolemaic times. In the Predynastic Period matting was
incorporated into housing. Th roughout the Dynastic Period
bed frames and chair seats were woven with matting. TwinedGroup of bronze tools for woodworking, from Th ebes, Egypt (New Kingdom, around 1300 b.c.e.) (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)
crafts: Egypt 287