Glass and Faience in Ancient Egypt

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GLASS AND FAIENCE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Faience in Ancient Egypt
Forming Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects
Large and Middle-Size Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects
Glazing and Coloring Ancient Egyptian Faience
Glazing Methods for Ancient Egyptian Faience
Firing Ancient Egyptian Faience
Faience Kilns
Glass in Ancient Egypt
Glass-Making in Ancient Egypt
Raw Materials for Making Glass in Ancient Egypt
Glass Production in Ancient Egypt
Glassworking Production in Ancient Egypt
Cold Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt
Hot Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt
Core Forming Glass in Ancient Egypt
Glass Use and Discard in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Glass Factories

Glassmaking was known in ancient Egypt as far back as
2500 B.C. The bottle was invented sometime around 1500 B.C.
by Egyptian artisans. The Egyptians created lovely glassware.
They made delightful tiny glass vases, tall-rim jars adorned
with flamingos. Before glassblowing was developed in the 1st
century B.C. “core glass” vessels were made by forming the
glass around a solid metal rod that was taken out as the glass
cooled.
Some of the most beautiful works of Egyptian art are blue

pear-size hippopotami made of faience of clay and glazed in
vivid blue glass. One of these hippos is upside down and has a glass and bronze grapes
broken leg, these were talisman placed with the dead. Their
aim is scare off attacks by hippos in the journey in the afterlife.
Scarab beetles were not just decorative items. One their undersides were written short tributes or accounts. A potato-
size scarab produced under Amenhotep III commemorated the pharaohs skill as a hunter and describes how he killed
“102 fearful lions: during the first 11 years of his reign.
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20.11.2019 GLASS AND FAIENCE IN ANCIENT EGYPT | Facts and Deta ls
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factsanddetails.com (http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub365/); Ancient Egyptian Government, Infrastructure
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Websites on Ancient Egypt: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/nelc_uee);

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu
(https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/asbook04.asp); Discovering Egypt discoveringegypt.com
(https://discoveringegypt.com/); BBC History: Egyptians bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/); Ancient History Encyclopedia on Egypt ancient.eu/egypt
(https://www.ancient.eu/egypt); Digital Egypt for Universities. Scholarly treatment with broad coverage and cross
references (internal and external). Artifacts used extensively to illustrate topics. ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt//); British Museum: Ancient Egypt ancientegypt.co.uk
(http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html); Egypt's Golden Empire pbs.org/empires/egypt
(http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/index.html); Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
(https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/egyptian-art); Oriental Institute Ancient Egypt
(Egypt and Sudan) Projects (https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/oriental-institute-ancient-egypt-egypt-and-
sudan-projects); Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre in Paris louvre.fr/en/departments/egyptian-antiquities
(https://www.louvre.fr/en/departments/egyptian-antiquities); KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt kmtjournal.com
(http://www.kmtjournal.com/); Ancient Egypt Magazine ancientegyptmagazine.co.uk
(http://ancientegyptmagazine.co.uk/); Egypt Exploration Society ees.ac.uk (https://www.ees.ac.uk/); Amarna Project
amarnaproject.com (http://www.amarnaproject.com/); Egyptian Study Society, Denver egyptianstudysociety.com
(https://www.egyptianstudysociety.com/); The Ancient Egypt Site ancient-egypt.org (http://www.ancient-
egypt.org/index.html); Abzu: Guide to Resources for the Study of the Ancient Near East etana.org
(http://www.etana.org/abzubib); Egyptology Resources fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk (https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/er/)
Faience in Ancient Egypt

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “Faience has been described as “the first high-tech ceramic”, which
aptly describes its artificial nature. Unlike conventional, clay-based ceramics, the raw material of faience is a mixture of
silica (quartz), alkali (soda), and lime reacted together during firing to make a new medium, quite different in nature to its
constituents. The Egyptians referred to the material as THnt (tjehenet) “that which is brilliant, scintillating, or dazzling,"
in view of its reflective qualities, which they associated with the shiny surfaces of semiprecious stones. [Source: Paul
Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cs9x41z) <>]
Faience derives its modern name from its bright colors, which reminded early travelers to Egypt of “Fayence," a
colorful tin-glazed pottery that they knew from late medieval times and that took its name from the town of Faenza in
northern Italy (confusingly, this pottery is itself now usually called majolica). The color most associated with the material
is blue or blue-green and was probably produced in imitation of semiprecious stones such as turquoise and green
feldspar, as well as lapis lazuli. The Egyptian name for the material was THnt (tjehenet), meaning “brilliant” or “dazzling”
in reference to its brilliant shine, like that of the stones it was imitating. <>
“The origin of faience is probably to be sought in the Egyptian desire for semiprecious stones, not least those with the
reflective blue color of the sky. It may have been the wish to replicate these that led to the glazing of steatite (soapstone,
which hardens to become enstatite on firing) and quartz. The glazing of these stones developed as early as Predynastic
times, when a soda-lime-silicate glaze was applied over the carved stones. Peltenburg has made the point that faience
glazing was an essentially “cold working” technology, unlike glass, which was “hot worked." By this is meant that the
faience worker prepared his object and glazing materials cold, the firing of the object being done at a later stage. This
technique also applies to the glazing of stone and indicates a clear link between craftsmen in semiprecious stones and
glazing in the earliest phase of the production of glazed materials. <>

“It is not clear how the transition from objects carved from
stone to objects made from what is essentially a reconstituted
and modified stone (comprising crushed quartz or sand and alkali)
was made, but it happened during the Predynastic Period and
was already well established by Early Dynastic times. It may have
been driven by the desire to achieve more detailed “carvings”
than could readily be produced from solid quartz and yet preserve
a greater brilliance than normally found on glazed steatite. The
steps in this discovery are not known, but the result is essentially
a reconstituted stone to which the name “Egyptian faience” has
been given. It is worth noting that Egyptian faience, more
frequently referred to simply as “faience," is not exclusive to
Egypt but is well known elsewhere in the Near East and the
Aegean, and is found in smaller quantities in Europe where it was
produced, and probably developed, independently. <>
"As with all ancient materials the resources necessary for

faience production had to be sourced from within the landscape.
In the case of faience these materials would comprise silica
faience falcon
(quartz, either in the form of pebbles, which could be crushed, or
quartz sand) and an alkali (soda in the form of natron from the
Wadi Natrun or other lesser sources, or from the ash of burnt plants). To these would be added lime (intentionally or not),
either naturally present in the sand or from crushed or calcined (heated) limestone. Color was normally achieved by the
addition of metal compounds, most notably copper. <>
“Traditional craftsmen did not work to the kinds of precise formulas now employed in industrial manufacturing. As a
result, variations in faience composition are to be expected and numerous faience recipes are known. Vandiver states
that a fairly typical bulk composition is: Silica (SiO2) 92 – 99 percent, Lime (CaO) 1 – 5 percent, “Soda” (Na2O) 0 – 5
percent To this mixture may be added small quantities of copper oxide (CuO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and potassium
oxide (K2O), along with quantities of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and traces of other elements. It should be noted that the
form in which these substances (which show as oxides in analyses) were added is not known with certainty. The silica
makes up the body of the material. However, unlike the components of glass manufacture, the soda and lime are not
present in sufficient quantity to melt the silica completely at the production temperatures; rather, they serve to react with
the silica to form a small amount of glass that binds the silica grains." <>
Forming Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “In order to form an object a faience paste first had to be produced.
This would involve the collection and crushing of quartz pebbles, probably using pounders and quernstones, or the
collection of quartz sand. The sand itself would normally have required some crushing or grinding to render it into a
flour-like powder to which crushed natron (or plant ash) and lime would be added. These ingredients too would need
processing. The lime might come from crushed limestone, or from limestone that had been calcined and then reduced to
powder (it might also be naturally present among the quartz sand and so be crushed and added unintentionally with the
sand itself). Where plant ash soda was used the coarse material from the ashing of the plants would have to be picked or
sieved out before crushing the remainder. The materials would then be mixed together in approximately the ratio
presented above. The paste produced was thixotropic—that is, subject to changes in viscosity that would make it
difficult to shape and prone to losing detail. [Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of
Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cs9x41z) <>]
“A wide range of techniques was used for the shaping of the faience body material. An object might be roughly
modeled in the soft paste, allowed to dry and then abraded to its final shape using sharp tools. This abrasion technique
seems to have been widely used to make the small animal figures popular in Early Dynastic times. Where numerous
identical pieces were required—for example, inlays for furniture or buildings, or amulets—then molding could be used. A
pad of clay was impressed with the shape of the desired object, using an existing object or a metal or wooden former, or
perhaps by carving out the clay to the desired shape. The mold was then fired and could subsequently be used to
produce multiple copies of the object in faience paste. Since the object was not fired in the mold but rather tipped out of

it to dry, the mold could be used many times in quick succession.

Eventually the mold, which was porous, would itself soak up
some of the paste materials; when efflorescent pastes were
being used, the mold would eventually gain an effloresced
surface and become useless. At this point it seems that the mold
would be discarded and a new one made. It is likely that the
glazed tiles used in the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser were
made by molding and may thus serve as an early example of
mass production. These tiles are believed to have been glazed
using the efflorescence process (described below under Glazing),
which was typical of the Old Kingdom. <>
“Because the faience paste is thixotropic, even molded pieces

are rarely truly identical, since the material often loses detail,
faience hippos
such as impressed hieroglyphs, as it dries. Molded pieces may
therefore require some retouching, essentially re-carving of detail, after they are removed from the mold. This has been
a source of difficulty in modern replication experiments. It is worth noting, however, that modern experimenters
necessarily start their work with no experience of faience production and so lack the years of expertise of the ancient
practitioners. As a result, some of the difficulties inherent in the process are more obvious than they would have been in
ancient times. <>
Large and Middle-Size Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “Larger items, such as vessels, might be formed around a core of
straw or other plant materials (as with some of the “hedgehog” figures from the Middle Kingdom), or modeled or molded
in sections that were joined together (such as some of the chalices of the New Kingdom and later). There is debate about
whether the potter's wheel was used to make vessels, although Vandiver believes that it was employed from the New
Kingdom onwards. In her study, Vandiver found no evidence for clay being added to the body of the vessel to increase its
plasticity, but has subsequently stated that 5 - 25 percent clay was added, and that 10 percent is sufficient to facilitate
throwing. Wheel throwing has been argued for the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in particular, when clay may have been
included in the faience body, but there has been no agreement about whether the wheel was actually used. [Source: Paul
While faience was mostly used for the production of small

items, it was also sometimes used in the production of larger
pieces. One of the largest of these is a scepter inscribed for
Amenhotep II found by Petrie at Naqada in 1894. The piece
measures 2.158 meters in length, but is made by joining shorter
sections together with faience paste. Also made for Amenhotep II
is a large sphinx, 250 mm long and 140 mm high, now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art . The same collection includes a
faience lion holding a captive chief of Kush. Its height (0.70 m)
and bulk make it among the largest pieces known. The site of
Qantir has yielded a great deal of evidence for faience production
and some particularly fine pieces. <>
underside of a faience hippo “These large pieces are well known because they are
exceptional in scale. However, there is an extensive size-range of
objects between these and the smallest faience items, such as rings, beads, and amulets. Perhaps most common in this
middle category are tiles. From Amarna and other New Kingdom sites we have many tiles probably intended for inlaying
(e.g., into furniture or as decorative architectural elements). Some of these are the elaborate polychrome tiles — yet to
be satisfactorily replicated — representing naturalistic subjects from the Amarna Period, as well as tiles representing the
“Nine Bows” from Ramesside times. Other tiles are polychrome by virtue of deliberate and obvious inlay; these include
the well-known “daisy tiles," in which white and yellow flowers are set into circular voids in the green background, good
examples of which are to be found in the Metropolitan and Petrie museums. <>

“A less obvious form of “tile” is the hieroglyph inlay, or sculptured piece. These can be quite large and represent
individual hieroglyphic signs, or parts of the human body (hands and heads, for example), which would be used to make
up composite figures for inlay into walls or furniture. A number of such pieces have survived from the vitreous- materials
workshop recently excavated at Amarna." <>
Glazing and Coloring Ancient Egyptian Faience

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “There are three known methods of faience production. However, as
Vandiver has pointed out, the tendency of scholars to concentrate on the glazing method has sometimes obscured our
view of change in the faience production process. ...It should be borne in mind that glazing techniques might sometimes
be combined and individual objects might thus exhibit a confusing mixture of methods. For example, because faience
paste is thixotropic and often loses detail (such as impressed hieroglyphs) as it dries, faience workers were sometimes
able to restore definition by abrasion, thereby removing part of the effloresced surface. Such surface damage could be
retouched using a thin solution of the efflorescent body material, i.e., a solution of the body material that contains the
glazing constituents. Accordingly brush marks or secondary efflorescence layers might be introduced. [Source: Paul
“The earliest faience is invariably blue or green, exhibiting the full range of shades between these two colors. The
coloring material was usually copper. From the New Kingdom onward, however, the color palette was extended, probably
following the introduction of glass into Egypt. Kühne believed that ground glass might have been added to the faience
body, thereby increasing the range of colors as well as increasing the strength of the material. Vandiver later took the
same view. <>
“More recent work by Shortland, particularly on the material called by Lucas “Variant D," has shown that the
composition does not match that of glass, and that its addition is therefore unlikely. It is possible that the glassy phase
may result from the addition of colored frit to the faience mixture. (Frit is a mixture of the ingredients of glass that have
been incompletely reacted together; it is a material in its own right and can be used as a pigment or for making objects.)
It is certainly true, however, that glass may have been used as an ingredient in applied glazes, especially for yellows and
lime greens. Other colors were produced using transition metals such as red iron oxide. Cobalt could be used for dark
blues. Whatever the main glaze color, black manganese was commonly used to add detail, such as the hieroglyphs and
decorative patterns frequently seen on otherwise plain objects." <>
Glazing Methods for Ancient Egyptian Faience

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “The the
three basic glazing methods used in ancient Egypt are: 1)
Application, 2) Efflorescence and 3) Cementation.. Application
“is the method by which Petrie assumed all faience was made.
He derived most of his information for this view from the
examination of surface material at Memphis and, later, from
actual excavation there. His reconstruction of the process was
aided by what he knew of the manufacture of glazed ceramics
in his own time. In the application method an object made of
faience body material is coated with a slurry or a powdered
glaze, usually before firing. This coating material contains (or is
itself) the colorant, which might be copper or Egyptian blue. It
is allowed to dry on the object, and once the object is fired, the
coating becomes fused to give a shiny glaze. The overall
coating also serves to strengthen the object and, in the case of faience broad collar from Amarna
containers intended for liquids, to make it waterproof. [Source:
Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org

“The application method of glazing was particularly common in Ptolemaic and Roman times. At the Roman-Period site
of Kom Helul at Memphis, Petrie found the remains of cylindrical containers known as “saggars," in which stacks of
vessels were placed during firing. The vessels were placed one inside the other, separated by small cones of clay (each
cone's point rested on the inside of the vessel beneath, while the cone's broad end was attached to the stand ring of the
vessel). After firing, the stack of vessels would be removed from the saggar by breaking away the cones. The cone-point
would leave only a pin-prick mark in the glaze, while the breaking away of the broad end of the cone would leave a scar
on the vessel's stand ring, where it would not normally be visible. The saggars themselves became glazed over time and
it is common to find examples whose interior is coated in, for example, dark blue glaze, but whose underside is light
blue. This is a consequence of the fact that the saggars were stacked one above the other, as a result of which the
underside of a saggar would reflect the glaze color of the saggar beneath it, while the saggar's interior walls bore the
color of the vessels stacked inside. <>
“The marks left on the glazed objects by the cones are a clear indication that glazing was carried out by application, as
are brush marks, drips and runs of glaze, and occasional finger marks left on the objects as the glaze slurry dried. If too
much glaze was used, or the firing was at too high a temperature, or for too long a time, glaze sometimes became too
liquid and so pooled in the bottom of vessels, leaving a thick layer. It can be very difficult for the archaeologist to
determine glazing methods—even where it is possible to examine a cross section, as in a sherd, and the problem is
compounded when examining complete objects, although application leaves the clearest macroscopically detectable
indications. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is the most reliable method for determining glazing technique and,
in the case of application glazing, shows, in the cross section, a clear layer of glaze upon the faience body. <>
“Efflorescence. This seems to have been the most common method of producing a glaze during the Pharaonic Period
and is especially prevalent from at least the New Kingdom onward. In this method the materials of the faience body
(paste) are mixed with the coloring material (frequently copper). The mix is prepared wet and can thus be shaped into an
object, often by being pressed into a mold. As the object dries, an effloresced “scum” layer develops on the surface of
the object. <>
“After firing in the kiln, this effloresced coating forms the colored glaze. Because the ingredients are mixed throughout
the body material, rather than simply added to the surface of an already-made object, the heating causes them to fuse
together and create a substantial glassy phase. (It will be recalled that faience is essentially the same as glass in its
composition, and so contains materials that develop a glassy phase.) The alkali acts as a flux in faience pastes, allowing
the silica to fuse at lower temperatures than would otherwise be possible. The greater amount of fluxing materials in
effloresced paste—as compared to that in the other two methods of glazing faience pastes—helps to create interparticle
glass (rather than interstitial glass: see Vandiver 1998: 124), which helps to bind the silica together and so produce a
stronger object. By this method it became possible to produce finger rings of sufficient strength to be worn. Vandiver
states: “Faience bodies are the complex process of glassmaking stopped in the middle as described by a narrow range of
variables. Glazes on faience bodies are the glass forming reactions carried to completion."
The efflorescence technique is well attested at Amarna (where there are molds covered in effloresced paste), but was
not recognised by Petrie, who thought that all faience was made using application. The technique was not generally
noted until the 1960s, when Kühne produced a paper on this “self-glazing” technique. Since no glaze is actually added to
the finished object, there are no brush marks or finger marks present from this technique, nor are there usually stand
marks from kiln furniture (such as cones). However, some pieces do seem to have stood on undulating surfaces in the
kiln; as a result, some marks may be found even on effloresced pieces. A clearer indication of the technique is that the
glaze will be thinnest on those parts of the object where air was least able to circulate during drying. This is usually the
underside, where the piece was set to dry on a board or other surface where the air could not easily circulate to produce
an effloresced surface. As a result, the glaze on the underside of an inlay or vessel is often very poor and erratic; since it
would not normally have been seen, it was likely unimportant to the makers. When examined under a SEM, it is obvious
that there is a great deal of interparticle glass between the silica grains and that this extends to the surface, where it
forms the glaze. Although this glassy phase is usually most extensive at the surface, it is present throughout. <>
“Cementation. This method of glazing only became known to archaeologists in the 1960s, when Wulff, Wulff, and Koch
(1968) discovered it being practiced in the (contemporary) town of Qom in Iran, the site after which it takes its alternative
name, the “Qom Technique." In this method the silica making up the faience body material, along with alkali, is shaped
to produce the object. Once dry, the object is placed in a container tightly packed with a powdered mixture—the glazing
material—comprising lime, ash, silica, charcoal, and a colorant. A range of mixtures of these ingredients has been shown

to yield a glaze. Once again this is a soda-lime-silica glaze, but its method of transfer to the object is markedly different
in that it glazes by reaction with the object's silica core, rather than by being directly applied to it. After the object has
been buried in the glazing powder, the container is then placed in the kiln and fired. During the firing process there is a
reaction between the surface of the object and the powder around it, whereby the object becomes glazed. Interestingly,
the glazing powder not in direct contact with the silica does not become fused into a glaze, but remains as powder and
can be crumbled away from the object after firing. <>
“Faience objects glazed by cementation have, of course, no brush marks, drip marks, or stand marks, and the
technique is therefore extremely difficult to determine with confidence on a fragmentary hand specimen. Under a SEM
the glaze can be seen to penetrate a little way into the silica body, which is otherwise unaffected, in marked contrast to
the thick layer of what is essentially pure glaze on applied pieces, or the interparticle glass of effloresced examples.The
cementation technique is thought to have occurred in Egypt from at least as early as the Middle Kingdom but is not well
attested, perhaps because relatively few pieces have been scientifically examined and because it is difficult to detect
with certainty." <>
Firing Ancient Egyptian Faience

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “It has
generally been assumed that faience was fired at temperatures
of 800 – 1000°C. This is likely to be true for many pieces, whether
they were prepared in a kiln or fired in the open. Unlike unglazed
pottery, faience pieces tend to stick together if they come into
contact with each other during firing. This can leave pieces
adhered to one another in such a way that they are difficult to
separate. As a result, it has usually been assumed that they were
fired on trays or in saggar vessels. It is known that saggars were
used in the Roman production at Memphis, and it is possible that
they were also employed in the firing of some New Kingdom
material. The cylindrical vessels believed to have been used for
the production of glass ingots at Amarna may also have been
used as small saggars for the firing of faience objects. However,
the faience objects could not be set directly upon the ceramic
recreating a faience kiln surface during firing or they would also stick to that. It is likely
that lime or possibly quartz pebbles were used as a separating
layer. [Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org
“It may be that scholars are sometimes overly focused on the scale and temperature of faience production; indeed the
work of Eccleston has shown that it would be possible to manufacture faience in a simple bread-oven. Although he fired
at temperatures of 800 – 900°C it is possible that a longer firing at a lower temperature might have yielded similar results,
and we should be aware that small-scale production in particular might require the minimum use of materials. Although
much more research needs to be done on the firing temperatures of faience, Vandiver has made some progress in this
direction, noting that specimens fired at higher temperatures generally have smooth glaze, rounded bubbles, and greater
penetration of glaze into the body. <>
“Firing structures for faience are not well known. The surviving evidence is summarized in Nicholson and Peltenburg.
A series of pits, some lined with broken bricks, at Abydos, dating from the mid-Old Kingdom into the Middle Kingdom,
forms the earliest known evidence for purpose-built firing structures. These pits may have operated at temperatures
below those normally quoted, but this remains speculative. <>
“For the Middle Kingdom there is production evidence from Kerma in Nubia and from Lisht, although there is
uncertainty as to whether a structure found at Lisht is a Middle Kingdom kiln or a later (intrusive) silo. Evidence for kilns
is better for the New Kingdom and several possible candidates are known from Amarna site O45.1. However, it must be
stressed that these latter could simply be pottery kilns. It is quite possible that faience firings took place in these, or
indeed in the structures identified as possible glass kilns, since several craft- working facilities are located in close
proximity. The best evidence comes from the massive Roman- Period furnaces excavated by Petrie at Memphis. These

seem to have been square or rectangular in form, unlike the smaller ovoid kilns of the New Kingdom, and would have
held large quantities of material in saggars. Based on inclusions in the slaggy waste material, Petrie stated that they
were fired using straw; this evidence is currently being reviewed. The scale of these kilns or furnaces is such that they
may have been fired at high temperatures for prolonged periods, but we should be cautious in applying existing evidence
to earlier periods and to smaller scales of production." <>
Faience Kilns
Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “Faience kilns are
sometimes referred to as furnaces by archaeologists, because it is assumed
that they operated at very high temperatures, and also perhaps because in
Roman times they could be very large. In fact the temperatures necessary for
firing faience were usually well within the temperature range of terracotta
firing (maximum 1000°C)."Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff,
UK, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2010, escholarship.org
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/47x6w6m0) <>]
“Pharaonic faience was fired in numerous ways—many of them akin to the

methods used to produce pottery. At Abydos, for example, there is evidence
for the open firing of faience during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate
Period, as well as for a possible kiln or firing structure . There is also a possible
kiln from Lisht, where a faience- making area was identified. <>
“Much more evidence for faience production is available for the New
Kingdom, not least from el-Amarna; however, there is some uncertainty about
the kilns themselves. Nicholson has identified possible faience kilns at el-
Amarna site O45.1, but these are of the same design as pottery kilns and their
attribution to faience remains tentative. Since they occur at a locality where faience monkey
faience as well as pottery is known to have been made, and since both faience
and pottery kilns would have operated within the same temperature ranges, they cannot definitely be ascribed to the
faience-making operation. It would not be surprising to find that pottery and faience were sometimes fired in the same
kilns, albeit not at the same time, since different temperatures might have been required and/or because saggars might
have been needed for the faience. The excavators at el-Amarna also found large updraft kilns at O45.1, which they
believe were used for firing glass. These structures, too, could have served for faience production, fired to a lower
temperature than that required for the reacting together and subsequent melting of glass. <>
“At least some of the faience may well have been fired in saggars (see above) during the New Kingdom and later, and
these are very well attested from the Roman Period at the site of Kom Helul, Memphis. Here Petrie recorded very
substantial rectangular kilns, sunk up to c. 5 meters into the ground. These are currently being reinvestigated. <>
Glass in Ancient Egypt

Glassmaking — in the form of making beads ---- was known in ancient Egypt as far back as 2500 B.C. Whether this is
real glassmaking is a matter of debate. The Egyptians created lovely glassware. They made delightful tiny glass vases,
tall-rim jars adorned with flamingos. Before glassblowing was developed in the 1st century B.C. “core glass” vessels
were made by forming the glass around a solid metal rod that was taken out as the glass cooled. Some have suggested
that the bottle was invented sometime around 1500 B.C. by Egyptian artisans.
Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “Glass in ancient Egypt appeared in the New Kingdom (1550–1070
B.C.). It was a novel and highly prized material, which quickly found favor with the elite. The first known glass sculpture
in the round depicted the Egyptian ruler Amenhotep II. The purposes for which glass was used overlap with those
traditionally known for objects made in faience, and both materials can be regarded as artificial versions of semiprecious
stones, notably turquoise, lapis lazuli, and green feldspar. The techniques by which glass was worked in the Pharaonic
period fall into two broad groups—the forming of vessels around a friable core, which was subsequently removed, and
the casting of glass in molds to make solid objects. The vessels produced by core forming were almost invariably small, a

matter of a few centimeters in height, and were mainly used for precious substances such as unguents. Cast items
included sculpture as well as inlays and small amulets. [Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA
Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2011, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2w17t0cw) <>]
“Although there are reports of examples of glass dating before

the New Kingdom, most of these are unconfirmed or uncertain,
and one must distinguish between glass, which was intentionally
produced, and that arrived at “accidentally." To this latter
category should be assigned small objects of glass, which were
actually intended as faience but which have lost their silica core
and so become glass. Since the basic ingredients of glass and
faience are the same (silica, lime, and soda), it is not surprising to
find some blurring of the groups when particular heating
conditions occur. <>
“As a new material in Egypt, glass of the New Kingdom seems

to have enjoyed a relatively high status. Indeed, some of the
earliest pieces we know about bear the names of Hatshepsut
earings (clear colorless name beads) and of Thutmose III (vessels); it
seems to have been regarded as a material suitable for royal
gifts, such as shabtis. Apparently glass sculpture in the round is an Egyptian innovation. It is commonly suggested that
glass might have been a royal monopoly during the New Kingdom. However, this is an oversimplification, and Barry
Kemp has pointed out that we know of no such concept nor of sumptuary laws for Egypt at this time. Nonetheless, it
does appear that the actual making of raw glass might have been under state control at least until the end of the 18th
Dynasty. That individuals of lower status gradually gained increasing access to glass should not be surprising. As the
material became more common, it was used for a greater range of items and spread beyond the upper echelons of
society. <>
Glass-Making in Ancient Egypt

Joel R. Siebring of Minnesota State University, Mankato wrote: “Glass-making technology initially began in Egypt with
the manufacture of small beads in the pre'dynastic era. There is little or no evidence of glass technology until the XVIII
Dynasty. The technology was a result of the process of firing clay pots. The sand and slag utilized in making clay pots
melted together to make glass. Early examples of glass manufacture were in the form of beads made from the glass
nuggets. It was determined that when metal oxides were added to the glass nuggets, various color hues resulted. The
foundattion for this technology may have been in the development of bronze technology, adding different elements to
copper to make bronze. There is also early evidence for glass blowing." [Source: Joel R. Siebring, Minnesota State
University, Mankato, ethanholman.com]
Andrew Shortland of Cranfield University wrote: “Glass production starts in the second half of the sixteenth century
B.C.. Glass was produced from the combination of quartzite pebbles with a plant ash flux, usually with the addition of
copper, cobalt, antimony or manganese colorants, and opacifiers. The earliest surviving glassmaking workshop is a
subject of debate since archaeological evidence for glass production is rare and often equivocal. No glassmaking
factories have yet been found in Mesopotamia or Northern Syria, but several candidates are known from ancient Egypt,
including the sites of Malqata, Amarna, and Qantir. This is still very much a topic of current research, both through
archaeological investigation and scientific analysis. [Source: Andrew Shortland, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK,
UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4jv3f665) <>]
“Objects of glass first appear in the archaeological record of Egypt in the reign of Thutmose III. The origin of the
invention of glass is not clear, with both Egypt and Mesopotamia being proposed. However, the earliest datable glass and
hence glass production seems to come from Mesopotamia in the last half of the sixteenth century B.C.. It seems to be
imported into Egypt for the first time in quantity as tribute following the successful campaigns of Thutmose III in the
early years of his reign. Evidence for the production of glass is rare in the archaeological record of any period, but
especially of the earliest eras. There may be several reasons for this rarity—perhaps there were initially a very small
number of factories and perhaps of limited extent. However, one of the major reasons for their rarity has probably to do
with the difficulty of identifying such facilities. The production of glass objects can be divided into two clear stages:

glassmaking and glassworking. “Glassmaking” is the production of glass

from the raw materials, whereas “glassworking” is the transformation of raw
glass into finished objects. Theoretically, these could both be done in the
same place, but in practice, in the ancient world, they seem to have often
been split into two different sites. Long range trade in raw glass is supported
by the late fourteenth century B.C. Uluburun shipwreck. Its cargo included at
least 175 glass ingots; judging from their chemical composition, many, but
not all, of them were manufactured in Egypt. To date, no glassmaking factory
has been found in Mesopotamia at all, but there are several proposed in
Egypt, as discussed below. <>
Raw Materials for Making Glass in Ancient Egypt

Andrew Shortland of Cranfield University wrote: “The main raw material for
glass production is silica, thought to be in the form of quartzite pebbles in the
case of Egyptian glasses. These pebbles have a very high melting
temperature, around 1700°C. In order to produce a glass from them, a plant
ash flux is added. This lowers the temperature for the production of glass to
around 1100°C, which was achievable in an ancient furnace. Almost all of the
Egyptian glass jar
glass in Egypt was colored and frequently opacified. Light and mid-blue
glasses were produced from copper in the form of bronze or copper scale, which was added to the melt. Lead isotopic
analysis suggests that the copper colorant has the same source as the copper used in Egyptian tools and weapons.
[Source: Andrew Shortland, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009,
escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4jv3f665) <>]
“Darker blue glasses were often made with a cobalt colorant; this colorant has a particular pattern of trace element
impurities (high alumina, manganese, nickel, and zinc), which has enabled the cobalt colorant to be sourced to cobalt
bearing alums of the Western Oases of Egypt. The blues are the most common colors in the glasses and frequently form
the body glass for the core formed vessels. The opacifier calcium antimonate occurs in white glasses, which is formed by
adding antimony to the glass melt and allowing it to cool. <>
“The source of the antimony is unknown, but it is a rare element, and it is possible that the source might be as far
away as the Caucasus. The lead antimonate opacifier has been identified in yellow glasses. Once again, the Caucasus
may be the source of the antimony, but it is likely that the lead comes from local Egyptian mines, most notably Gebel Zeit
on the Red Sea coast, which was exploited in the New Kingdom for the lead sulphide galena for use in eye pigments or
kohl. Mixing blue glasses and these opacifiers gives opaque blue and green colors, respectively. The final colors in glass
are pink, purple, and black—all colored with manganese of unknown source—and red, which again uses copper." <>
Glass Production in Ancient Egypt

Andrew Shortland of Cranfield University wrote: ““Little is known about the way glass was produced. It is not a subject
that was written about in Egyptian texts and, unusually, does not seem to be depicted in any of the fairly common tomb
scenes, which show metal, pottery, or stone production. However, there is evidence in the form of texts from the Library
of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, the information of which is thought to date to the second millennium B.C.. These detail
recipes and furnace conditions; however, many of the words used are difficult to translate and some have strong magical
and religious elements, which makes interpretation of the texts difficult. The best evidence therefore comes from
analysis of the glass itself and rare archaeological finds of glassworking or glassmaking factories." [Source: Andrew
Shortland, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4jv3f665) <>]
Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “The treatment of glass must be divided into two parts: the making of
glass from its raw materials and its working from already processed glass. The introduction of glass blowing in the first
century B.C. and the incorporation of Egypt into the economy of the Roman state radically altered the production,
distribution, and status of glass. Processed glass may be in the form of ingots, newly made from the raw materials (or
possibly from recycled materials), or in the form of scrap glass, known as cullet. Our present knowledge of early Egyptian
glass does not usually allow us to differentiate glass made from new materials from that made from cullet. However,

because vessel glass was frequently polychrome, it would be difficult to recycle,

unless vessels and other products were first separated by color (such as some
inlays, beads, etc.). A glass ingot from Amarna, now in the collection of the
Liverpool University Museum, may be the result of remelting/recycling of glass,
but this is by no means certain—recycled glass is not necessarily obvious in
macroscopic examination. [Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff,
UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2011, escholarship.org
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2w17t0cw) <>]
“The earliest glass in Egypt was probably imported from elsewhere in the Near
East, and since much of that production was for polychrome vessels, it is
unlikely that it was recycled. Similarly, the very earliest local production in Egypt
would have used freshly produced glass, though we should not rule out limited
recycling of single color glass, particularly since this was a precious raw
material. By the time the beakers of Neskhons (wife of Pinedjem II) of the 21st
Dynasty were produced, it is possible that recycled glass, albeit of a new natron-
based composition, may have been in use. However, although the Neskhons
pieces lack the quality of earlier vessels, analysis of their composition has not
suggested recycling." <>
ancient Egyptian glass vessel
Glassworking Production in Ancient Egypt
Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “While glass itself was a new material in Egypt and as such seems to
have enjoyed a high status, it was not used in the creation of innovative forms. Glass seems rather to have been
regarded as an extension of faience and, perhaps by implication, of semiprecious stones such as turquoise, lapis lazuli,
and green feldspar. The connection between these materials is probably through color and brilliance. Faience was
regarded as a substitute for semiprecious stones, not necessarily inferior to them but of a different and artificial material.
All carried connotations of the heavens and the brilliance of the skies. Since the body color of much of the earliest glass
is also blue, it seems to have been regarded as yet another representation of this heavenly blue brilliance. That such was
the case is probably reflected in the term “Menkheperura (i.e. Thutmose III) lapis lazuli” for a material believed to be
glass, given in the Annals of Thutmose III at Karnak and sharing the color of the semiprecious stone. [Source: Paul
“It is possible that the association with precious stones might have led to the production of vessels in shapes that
were already produced in faience, itself imitating forms known in stone. In other words, artificial stones such as faience
and glass were used to make traditional stone vessel shapes. However, these shapes are not ones normally found in
turquoise, lapis, or feldspar, but more commonly in travertine/calcite (Egyptian “alabaster”) or hard stones, and one must
consider why this should be. <>
“A possible answer may be found in the history of these materials. Once faience started to be developed, one of the
means by which it could be shaped was by abrasion, essentially “carving” from a block of material, albeit often a partly
shaped block. From small vessels, the kind of things which lapidaries (gemstone cutters) may have produced in
semiprecious stone, to larger vessels is a relatively small step. These larger faience imitations of stone were being made
in the typical blue color, so it would be logical for glass vessels, also usually in blue base glass, to follow this tradition. <>
“Further support for the idea that glass followed the traditions established by faience makers may come from the way
in which glass first arrived in Egypt. Both Petrie and Oppenheim believe that its making may have been introduced by
glassmakers brought to the country as captives from the Near East. If this was so, and they were induced to establish a
new industry, it is most likely that they would be integrated among Egyptian specialists who worked on material that
shared some of the properties and technology of glass—the makers of the artificial precious stone: faience. The work of
Petrie at Amarna makes it clear that faience and glassmaking/glassworking activities went on in close proximity to one
another, a finding confirmed by the recent work by the Egypt Exploration Society. Part of this technological link is
probably the use of heat in the final stage of production. <>

“It is interesting to note also that some of the earliest glass vessels were treated as though they were of stone in that,
after casting, they were drilled to make them hollow. These pieces seem to belong to the phase in which glass was
coming into Egypt perhaps in the form of ingots from the Near East, or was first being made locally at a time when its
properties were still not fully understood. Thus we have an artificial, high-tech material being treated as though it were
stone. This combination of working practices and the embedding of a new craft into an old established one is an area
that requires further research." <>
Cold Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “However the earliest raw glass arrived in Egypt, be it as ingots or as
locally made glass, the earliest stages in its manufacture into objects require heat at some stage. In order to make useful
objects, raw glass would have been reheated and cast, probably into blocks with the approximate shape of the desired
object. The glass would then have been annealed, an essential process in glassworking involving the slow cooling of the
glass object, be it glass block or glass vessel. This cooling process allows the stresses developed in the hot glass to be
gradually reduced and released so that the cooled object will not shatter. A piece of glass, which is simply put aside to
cool in the workshop, would quickly crack or explode. Annealing may take place in a chamber to the side of, or above,
the main furnace or might be carried out in a separate structure. It may take several days to anneal large pieces.
[Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2011, escholarship.org
“The earliest glass, once it had been annealed, was worked cold. The interior of a vessel might thus have been drilled
out using a bow drill, probably with a copper cylinder as the drill bit just as Stocks has demonstrated for stoneworking.
This practice would have to have been carried out with great care because glass, like other siliceous materials such as
flint, will fracture conchoidally (shell shaped), and glass spalls around the drill would be difficult to disguise. It is notable
that the edges of rims and feet on early glass vessels including a kohl pot, which was made in this way, are often covered
in sheet gold, perhaps covering areas where the glass was prone to chipping in use or where it had been damaged
during the polishing stage of the operation. <>
“The casting and cold working of glass was not confined to the earliest phases of Egyptian glass history. However, its
use in the manufacture of hollow forms seems to have been limited to its earliest phase. In the later reign of
Tutankhamen, the technique of casting and cold working was used to produce two headrests. One of these, in dark blue
glass and with an incised inscription, had the edge of the upper part covered by sheet gold, while that in light blue glass
was made in two parts joined by a wooden dowel, the join being covered by a band of gold foil. Both would have required
very careful working by skilled lapidaries after the form was cast in glass." <>
Hot Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “The other main branch of the glassworking technique is to use heat
in the active shaping of the object, that is to “hot work” it. Gathering. At its simplest, this involved gathering a small blob
of glass from the furnace and then piercing it to form a bead. This was most easily achieved simply by gathering the
glass around a rod so that it was ready-pierced. The shape of the bead was manipulated with tools and by rolling it on a

flat surface known as a marver. Thus beads of spherical, cylindrical, or faceted shapes could be produced. [Source: Paul
“A hot thread of molten glass could also be drawn out from the furnace, allowed to solidify, and then be gently
reheated in order to be shaped. In this way the simple earrings of the New Kingdom might have been produced, along
with items such as applicator rods for kohl vessels and similar straightforward/plain pieces. Like all glass objects, once
shaped and, in the case of beads, removed from their rod, they would need to be annealed. <>
“Molding/Slumping. In Pharaonic Egypt, molding or slumping was used to produce open form vessels, represented by
the conglomerate glass pieces known from Malqata and elsewhere. Here fragments of glass of different colors were
placed together and heated so that they fused together into a single continuous plane. They were perhaps first fused
into a disc or oval shape and then reheated so that the fused disc slumped over a form or into a mold, forming a dish or
bowl. Glass pieces could also be heated together in a mold, though this would be more difficult to achieve satisfactorily.
A rim, in the form of a softened glass rod, was sometimes added to the vessel. This technique might be regarded as the
origin of what was to become mosaic glass, a specialty of the Roman Period.The making of inlays and occasionally of
amulets was apparently achieved by using open-face molds just as in the production of faience. The molds were
probably made of fired clay or, more rarely, stone and have not been discerned with certainty from those used for
faience. <>
“Lost wax. There remains the question of the manufacture of small items such as amulets and inlays other than those
that may have been made in open-face molds. A few small pieces in the round exist and seem to have been made by the
lost wax process. In this method, a wax image of the object was produced and had clay pressed around it. The object
was then heated, which fired the clay and melted away the wax leaving a void in the shape of the object. The void was
then filled with the intended medium for the object—in this case glass. The lost wax technique is best known for casting
gold or copper alloy, where the medium is very fluid, and would not be particularly well suited to glass, where the
medium is quite viscous. It may be that powdered glass was continually added to the heated mold until it was filled, in
this way small items can be produced without the risk of trapping large air bubbles. Whatever means was used, the
finished object would require considerable retouching. Shabtis made in glass might have been produced by the lost wax
process, but this is uncertain, and Cooney states that they were extensively reworked after casting in whatever kind of
mold was used." <>
Core Forming Glass in Ancient Egypt

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “Core forming. A process known as core forming was the most widely
used method for producing glass vessels from the New Kingdom into Hellenistic times. It was a more difficult and time
consuming operation than simple gathering and became the common process for making glass vessels once the
properties of glass were better understood and confidence in its use had been achieved. [Source: Paul Nicholson,
University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2011, escholarship.org
“In this method a core made from clay mixed with dung and plant fiber was shaped in the form of the vessel interior. It
was formed around a handling rod, which allowed the piece to be manipulated. This core was then dried and coated with
glass. The exact means of coating has been subject to much debate, with some researchers suggesting that the core
was rolled in powdered glass or covered by the application of chunks of softened glass. It has also been suggested the
core was dipped into a pot of molten glass or that molten glass was trailed onto the core. Whatever means was used, the

glass was then rolled on a marver (smooth stone slab) to give it a more even thickness over the core and get the basic
shape of the vessel exterior. This process required many reheatings of the core and the glass surrounding it and much
work at the marver. <>
“Once the core had been covered and a fairly uniform thickness of glass achieved, decorative trails might have been
added to the vessel body. This was done by softening rods of glass and marvering them into the body. By using a blade
to draw the trails up or down the body, it was possible to form them into chevrons or swags, common patterns on
Egyptian glass vessels. Rims were added to core formed pieces by using pincers to draw glass from the vessel wall or by
adding rings of glass to the top of the vessel. Such rims were sometimes embellished by adding a trail of glass in a
contrasting color. The same technique could be used for adding a foot to a vessel, while handles were made by adding a
gather of glass to the vessel wall. <>
“The whole object, still containing its core, would then be allowed to anneal slowly. This did not, of course, complete
the process and some skill was still required in order to remove the core. Removal of the handling rod, probably at the
point when the piece was placed in the annealing oven, left a void at the axis of the core, and this could gradually be
enlarged by abrading the friable material inside the vessel away. By careful abrasion most of the core could be broken up
and tipped out through the neck of the vessel. The contact zone between the vessel and the core inevitably preserved
part of the core; this can regularly be observed under the shoulders of broken vessels. While most ancient Egyptian glass
is opaque or translucent rather than transparent, this lack of clarity is no doubt added to by the remains of the core. <>
“It is possible that the need to use a core, and the knowledge that it could not be fully removed, may have encouraged
the use of strongly colored body glasses rather than the development of transparent colorless glass. The name beads of
Hatshepsut and Senenmut indicate that such glass could be made in the ancient world at an early date, but did not find
use in vessels." <>
Glass Use and Discard in Ancient Egypt

Paul Nicholson of the University of Wales wrote: “The purpose of glass objects has already been touched upon, namely
as items of personal adornment, inlays, and containers. For small items of adornment the use of glass was essentially
identical to that of faience and even stone—serving as beads or amulets whose color and shape had particular symbolic
or decorative importance. However, at least in its earliest phases, glass was a new material, apparently conjured up from
unlikely raw materials, which alone shared few if any of the properties of the finished item. The seemingly miraculous
quality of this rare new material may have given glass a status above that of faience, making it a prestige product
destined for the use of the high elite of Egyptian society. [Source: Paul Nicholson, University of Wales, Cardiff, UCLA
Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2011, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2w17t0cw) <>]
“The only items of glass sculpture in the round, which are known from ancient Egypt, were associated with pharaoh or
his highest officials. That figures of the king or shabtis for his nobles were made in the material emphasizes its
importance as well as its acceptance as a substitute, though not an inferior one, for faience or stone. Glass had a status,
which rendered it suitable for the afterlife as well as the earthly one. This view is further reinforced by the use of glass
inlays in the gold mask of Tutankhamen rather than lapis lazuli and the manufacture of head rests for his tomb in glass.
The use of materials in the ancient world cannot be judged by the value we place on them today—just as the iron in
Tutankhamen's tomb was a novel, high-tech material, so glass seems to have enjoyed royal approval as a new and
fascinating product. <>
“The use of glass containers was associated with expensive contents. Vessels served to hold perfumes, oils, and
unguents rather than common items. Indeed, the use of glass simply as a convenient and quickly produced container is
a result of glassblowing, a technique introduced in Roman times from the first century B.C.. The time taken to produce a

glass vessel by the core forming technique meant that each was an individually crafted work of art, whose form and
appearance may well have been as important and as valued as the contents. <>
“The questions of glass discard and recycling have not been studied for ancient Egypt. There has been little work on
the question of discard of materials in general. What is clear is that the earliest glass had a considerable value, and most
of our glass finds of vessels are from funerary contexts. Multi-colored glass was difficult to recycle because the colors
become merged and yield a dirty opaque glass. While the addition of a strong colorant such as cobalt might alleviate this
problem, it is more likely that only monochrome glass was recycled. It might be expected that with a newly established
craft, whose practitioners were few and worked in a limited number of centers, the return of broken glass to the
workshops would be very limited and difficult to achieve. More likely, broken fragments might have been treasured by
more low ranking individuals, pierced as beads or kept as curios. Vessels or other items, which broke at the workshops,
could of course be easily recycled. Scientific examination of early glasses from Egypt is not as yet sufficiently advanced
for much to be said about the occurrence or scale of recycling." <>
Ancient Egyptian Glass Factories

Andrew Shortland of Cranfield University wrote: “Analysis of the glass has shown that there were at least two different
factory sites operating in the fourteenth century B.C., at least one in Egypt and one in Mesopotamia or Northern Syria .
Early glassmaking or glassworking factories have been identified at the sites of Malqata, Amarna, el-Lisht, and
Qantir...Two further sites, Menshiyeh and Kom Medinet Ghurab, have been suggested as areas of glass production.
However, there is considerable doubt as to the dating and function of the sites, and they “cannot feature significantly in
discussions of New Kingdom glass production”. [Source: Andrew Shortland, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK,
UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4jv3f665) <>]
“Malqata: The site of Malqata on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes was excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of
Art's Egyptian Expedition between 1910 and 1921. Here, within the workmen's quarter of an extensive palace complex
built by Amenhotep III, the earliest evidence for a glassmaking or glassworking site in the world was found. The
excavators record finding crucible and glass slag, but the objects themselves were not retained by the museum and are
thus not available for modern study. Glassworking debris, such as rods, drips, and trails, was abundant. <>
“Amarna: Petrie stated that he had found “the sites of three or four glass factories, and two large glazing works…
though the actual workrooms had almost vanished” at the site of Amarna in Middle Egypt in the late nineteenth century.
Regrettably, he does not state where these workshops were, but later work has shown that they lay within the southern
end of the city, amongst the poorer quality housing. An Egypt Exploration Society expedition led by Paul Nicholson was
working on one of these factories, O45.1, through the 1990s. Two kilns 2 meters in diameter were uncovered; they were
described as thick walled and highly vitrified, with a sacrificial, regularly replaced lining, and associated with a large
amount of khorfush, the local word for black ‘slag’ (in this case, the melted clay lining of the furnace, which has solidified
on cooling). A third smaller kiln was found apparently associated with the other two and of a type recognized by
Nicholson to be a pottery kiln. Associated with the site were frit, melted glass, glass rods, and fragments of cylindrical
vessels. All of this strongly suggests that this site designated O45.1 was used for the manufacture of vitreous materials
although not necessarily glassmaking. <>
“El-Lisht: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition also excavated the site of glass production at el-
Lisht. This site was situated in a technological complex dated to 1295 - 1070 B.C., on the northern and eastern sides of
the much earlier 12th Dynasty pyramid of Amenemhat I. Working between 1906 and the mid 1930s, they uncovered glass
crucibles and slags, glass working debris in the form of rods, drips, and wasters, and a single large glass ‘ingot’. The
factory seemed to be producing glass beads, rings, pendants, and inlays. Once again, significant amounts of the finds
were not retained, making it difficult to interpret the function of the site. <>

“Qantir: A series of glass workshops have been hypothesized at Qantir-Pi-Ramesse in the eastern Nile Delta dating to
1250 - 1200 B.C.. This site is different to the others described above in that it has relatively little glassworking debris.
Instead, it has a large number of cylindrical vessels or glass-coloring crucibles for which no domestic parallel is known.
So far, about 1100 fragments have been recovered, representing a minimum of 250 to 300 vessels. One of these
crucibles, 00/0344, inventory number 3108, is filled with a heavily corroded block of raw glass, which seems to represent
a glassmaking charge that was abandoned before the batch material had fused completely—in effect, preserving much
of the original raw material. The site seems to have specialized in the production of red glass, a color that is very rare at
the other glass sites above. <>
“The Earliest Glass Factory? As discussed above, there is a distinction to be drawn between glassmaking factories and
glassworking areas. Malqata, Amarna, and el- Lisht all contain significant amounts of glassworking debris, so this is
what was obviously going on here. However, the presence of glassmaking is much harder to derive. It has been claimed
that Qantir represents the earliest surviving glassmaking factory on the basis of the crucible described above, the only
example of a glass batch preserved as a charge before being fully vitrified in the furnace. However, others have claimed
that the Amarna workshop of O45.1 is a glassmaking facility on the basis of the presence of high temperature kilns and
frits that appear to be colorants. Too many of the finds from el-Lisht and Malqata have been lost to enable them to be
considered. This is still the subject of much research, and only further excavation and analysis is likely to resolve the
issue for certain." <>
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons except glass making Saudi Aramco and Pinterest and the map, Science magazine
Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/nelc_uee); Internet

Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu (https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/asbook04.asp);
Tour Egypt, Minnesota State University, Mankato, ethanholman.com; Mark Millmore, discoveringegypt.com
discoveringegypt.com (https://discoveringegypt.com/); Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian
magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History
magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters,
Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, World Religions edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File
Publications, New York); History of Warfare by John Keegan (Vintage Books); History of Art by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last updated September 2018
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Glass and Faience in Ancient Egypt - Facts and Details

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20.11.

2019 GLASS AND FAIENCE IN ANCIENT EGYPT | Facts and Deta ls

GLASS AND FAIENCE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Some of the most beautiful works of Egyptian art are blue

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Websites on Ancient Egypt: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/nelc_uee);

Faience in Ancient Egypt

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"As with all ancient materials the resources necessary for

Forming Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects

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it to dry, the mold could be used many times in quick succession.

“Because the faience paste is thixotropic, even molded pieces

Large and Middle-Size Ancient Egyptian Faience Objects

While faience was mostly used for the production of small

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Glazing and Coloring Ancient Egyptian Faience

Glazing Methods for Ancient Egyptian Faience

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Firing Ancient Egyptian Faience

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“Pharaonic faience was ﬁred in numerous ways—many of them akin to the

Glass in Ancient Egypt

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“Although there are reports of examples of glass dating before

“As a new material in Egypt, glass of the New Kingdom seems

Glass-Making in Ancient Egypt

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glassmaking and glassworking. “Glassmaking” is the production of glass

Raw Materials for Making Glass in Ancient Egypt

Glass Production in Ancient Egypt

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because vessel glass was frequently polychrome, it would be difﬁcult to recycle,

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Cold Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt

Hot Working Glassworking in Ancient Egypt

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Core Forming Glass in Ancient Egypt

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Glass Use and Discard in Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egyptian Glass Factories

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Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org (https://escholarship.org/uc/nelc_uee); Internet

Last updated September 2018

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About This Project (http://factsanddetails.com/about.html) Support and Donations (http://factsanddetails.com/support.html)

Questions or comments, e-mail ajhays98@yahoo.com

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