DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49517#0495
POTTERY
389
4. RED-POLISHED WARE
Vessels, especially bowls and medium sized jars, of red ware covered with a thick red
haematite slip and pebble burnished, occur in all periods in Egypt. The ware shows the
same varieties as the ordinary red ware (see pp. 406-419). The predynastic slip is darker
(plum red) and usually rather matt in its polish. After the introduction of the light reddish-
drab materials of the Middle Predynastic Period, this ware is often overlaid with the
polished slip, in imitation of the ordinary R. P. Among the early wheel-made products,
those of the Old Kingdom, red-polished bowls, basins, and jars (especially Zzs-vases) form a
prominent feature, made of brown or red-brown ware (with dark brown or black center in
the break), with a fine red polish. The basis of the material is usually Nile mud, but some
jars occur of fine hard red ware, of which the basis is apparently a well levigated desert
clay. In the ceremonial-traditional pottery of the succeeding period, the Old Kingdom
types, especially the /zs-vases, continue to be made, but in degenerate forms and technique,
very often without the burnishing process. As previously stated, our knowledge of Middle
Kingdom pottery has been hitherto defective, and the R. P. vessels seemed not to be fre-
quent. But with the New Kingdom a new, well-made series of characteristic forms came
into use.1 The most distinctive feature of this series is probably that given by the bowl-
types: (a) a shallow bowl with flaring rim and ring-base; (6) a deeper bowl with slightly
contracted mouth and ring-base; (c) a deep bowl with a recurved or nearly vertical rim
and ring-base. Bowls with flat or rounded bases occur, but the ring-base is a marked and
usual characteristic. Both the drab and the red wares are used, but the red-polished ware
was the favorite for these forms. During the Nubian Archaeological Survey, these R. P.
bowls were found to be the most usual class of objects in dated tombs of Dynasty XVIII.
It may further be noted that bowls with recurved rims, which are reminiscent of the rims
of the round-bottomed bowls of the Old Kingdom, have a closer chronological relation to
the round-bottomed Nubian bowls with recurved rims found in the Early Nubian Period
at Kerma.
In Nubia the same development is traceable in the R. P. ware as that already exposed
for the Bkt., the B. P., and the W. J. The predynastic forms are those of Egypt; the wheel-
made Egyptian pottery and its degenerate forms do not appear; and except for the Kerma
material, very few, if any, examples of Egyptian R. P. vessels have been found in Nubia
until the New Kingdom, when a characteristic series of R. P. bowls serves to date a series of
cemeteries touching every large site from Shellal to Dakkeh. The development of the R. P.
Nubian ware after the beginning of Dynasty I follows as usual its own course, based on the
favorite mud mixture of the Nubian potters and the method of hand-turning on a mat or
bowl of dust. The examples are not frequent, however, being confined mostly to jars and
pots, and are extremely rare in the B-group (Old Kingdom) in which the pottery, almost
exclusively Bkt. bowls, is altogether very meager. It must be remembered that our present
material in the B-group comes from the graves of Lower Nubian communities when Lower
Nubia was a raid-harried No-man’s-land between the Egyptian fortress of Elephantine and
the independent tribes of Southern Nubia, and the pottery of the older periods of Southern
Nubia has not yet been recovered. The Nubian Archaeological Survey extended hardly
beyond Kuban-Dakkeh. Nevertheless, I doubt whether the first Egyptians found a dis-
1 Cf. Nub. Arch. Sur. Report, 1907-08, pp. 340-341, and descriptions of New Kingdom graves, passim.
389
4. RED-POLISHED WARE
Vessels, especially bowls and medium sized jars, of red ware covered with a thick red
haematite slip and pebble burnished, occur in all periods in Egypt. The ware shows the
same varieties as the ordinary red ware (see pp. 406-419). The predynastic slip is darker
(plum red) and usually rather matt in its polish. After the introduction of the light reddish-
drab materials of the Middle Predynastic Period, this ware is often overlaid with the
polished slip, in imitation of the ordinary R. P. Among the early wheel-made products,
those of the Old Kingdom, red-polished bowls, basins, and jars (especially Zzs-vases) form a
prominent feature, made of brown or red-brown ware (with dark brown or black center in
the break), with a fine red polish. The basis of the material is usually Nile mud, but some
jars occur of fine hard red ware, of which the basis is apparently a well levigated desert
clay. In the ceremonial-traditional pottery of the succeeding period, the Old Kingdom
types, especially the /zs-vases, continue to be made, but in degenerate forms and technique,
very often without the burnishing process. As previously stated, our knowledge of Middle
Kingdom pottery has been hitherto defective, and the R. P. vessels seemed not to be fre-
quent. But with the New Kingdom a new, well-made series of characteristic forms came
into use.1 The most distinctive feature of this series is probably that given by the bowl-
types: (a) a shallow bowl with flaring rim and ring-base; (6) a deeper bowl with slightly
contracted mouth and ring-base; (c) a deep bowl with a recurved or nearly vertical rim
and ring-base. Bowls with flat or rounded bases occur, but the ring-base is a marked and
usual characteristic. Both the drab and the red wares are used, but the red-polished ware
was the favorite for these forms. During the Nubian Archaeological Survey, these R. P.
bowls were found to be the most usual class of objects in dated tombs of Dynasty XVIII.
It may further be noted that bowls with recurved rims, which are reminiscent of the rims
of the round-bottomed bowls of the Old Kingdom, have a closer chronological relation to
the round-bottomed Nubian bowls with recurved rims found in the Early Nubian Period
at Kerma.
In Nubia the same development is traceable in the R. P. ware as that already exposed
for the Bkt., the B. P., and the W. J. The predynastic forms are those of Egypt; the wheel-
made Egyptian pottery and its degenerate forms do not appear; and except for the Kerma
material, very few, if any, examples of Egyptian R. P. vessels have been found in Nubia
until the New Kingdom, when a characteristic series of R. P. bowls serves to date a series of
cemeteries touching every large site from Shellal to Dakkeh. The development of the R. P.
Nubian ware after the beginning of Dynasty I follows as usual its own course, based on the
favorite mud mixture of the Nubian potters and the method of hand-turning on a mat or
bowl of dust. The examples are not frequent, however, being confined mostly to jars and
pots, and are extremely rare in the B-group (Old Kingdom) in which the pottery, almost
exclusively Bkt. bowls, is altogether very meager. It must be remembered that our present
material in the B-group comes from the graves of Lower Nubian communities when Lower
Nubia was a raid-harried No-man’s-land between the Egyptian fortress of Elephantine and
the independent tribes of Southern Nubia, and the pottery of the older periods of Southern
Nubia has not yet been recovered. The Nubian Archaeological Survey extended hardly
beyond Kuban-Dakkeh. Nevertheless, I doubt whether the first Egyptians found a dis-
1 Cf. Nub. Arch. Sur. Report, 1907-08, pp. 340-341, and descriptions of New Kingdom graves, passim.