Petrie's Ptolemaic and Roman Memphis by Sally-Ann Ashton

Author:Sally-Ann Ashton [Ashton, Sally-Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Archaeology
ISBN: 9781351217163
Google: IUg4DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-10-03T04:37:53+00:00

The use of faience at Memphis

As illustrated in this chapter, Petrie’s excavations produced a varied but comprehensive body of material manufactured from faience. In the Ptolemaic period faience can still be closely linked to the royal cults with further examples of secular statuettes. These objects were manufactured in the same way as Late period faience Egyptian statuettes and illustrate a continuation in the same way that sculptors copied Thirtieth Dynasty portrait features. Existing contemporaneously was the Greek-style material, such as figurines which imitate terracotta or bronze representations and also the copies of imported clay bowls. This latter category shows a traditional group receiving an Egyptian stamp with the appearance of non-Greek iconography, which may suggest that Greeks and Egyptians were working closely together during this period.

The Roman material is quite different to that of the Ptolemaic artists. Neither the poor quality nor iconography suggests that Egyptians were manufacturing the material; instead a different ‘recipe’ was used with dramatically different results. Less care is taken over details or decoration and the thick blue glaze often obscures any relief detail. The evidence from Kom Helul suggests mass production with stacks of vessels manufactured together, something for which there is no evidence during the Ptolemaic period given the absence of cone ends adhering to bowls. Most Roman period faience vessels show indications of stacking either on the base or the central bowl. Even where cones have been removed, there are often patches of the core revealed which must have stuck to the cones. It could be suggested that such vessels were used as offerings as a more affordable alternative to metal. At Alexandria the material is often associated with funerary contexts, but at Memphis it seems to have a served a secular purpose. It would, therefore, appear that during the Ptolemaic period Egyptians either made or taught Greeks how to manufacture faience but during the reign of Tiberius a new process or recipe was employed.

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