Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

rounded, with two small round handles
attached to them. The body again is
strongly offset at a third of the height,
mildly narrowing toward a high ring foot
of 7.8 cm in diameter. The decoration is
a complicated relief and painted red and
black design on a white slip, clearly
divided into front and back (the handles
marking the plane of division). On the
front, an applique face with painted eye
contours and a curly beard appears on the
shoulder of the jar (cf. Fig. 2 top). On the
body below the face a tree (palm) was
depicted between antithetic representations
of birds and two fish facing right. On
either side there are fields filled with
geometric ornament. On the left, there are
four double circles in superposition set
between two sets of five lines each, below

this a panel filled with black crosshatching
and a small red doubled circle in each little
square. On the right, we see three double
circles in superposition, a pattern of
checkered rhomboids below them. The
ornament on the back of this jar recalls
that from jar Nd.01.218. The area of the
body is divided into four panels closed
with an arcade on the shoulders, the arches
containing each a half-rosette (stylized
architectural conch?). The panels contain
the following motifs, respectively: wavy
line, stylized four-petal flower, stylized
ornamental leaf, six-petal flower. The
colors of the decoration are surprisingly
vivid and the drawing very distinct. The
vessel may be assigned to the 8th/9th
century or perhaps the beginning of the
9th century.5>


Fig. 1. Storage jars from Room AA.30.2: Nd.01.218 (A) and Nd.01.219 (B)
(Drawing M. Zurek)

166