EGYPTIAN GLASS

There is little evidence of extensive glass manufacture in Egypt before the New Kingdom (1,540 B.C.). Prior to that time, glass had been used in Egypt primarily as a glaze for beads. The next step in the evolution of glass in Egypt was the discovery of faience: "Faience is a mixture of quartz sand and an alkaline substance covered by a vitreous glaze which, once mixed, can then be molded, cast, or even thrown on a wheel" (Battie 16). Faience was discovered and used in Egypt before glass.

one of the glass pieces which was made in ancient Egypt is a glass pendant which is shaped like a small flask and has a starburst-like circular design on it. That piece was made in approximately 1,500 B.C., well before the famous Tutankahamun period of Egyptian art. By the time of Tutankahamun's reign, jewelry which combined glass with gold and gemstones was being made for most of the Egyptian royalty. Glass was probably as precious as real gemstones in ancient Egypt because only very wealthy Egyptians owned glass jewelry.

By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries B.C.

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for beer, and even miniature sculpture" (Zerwick 17). oddly, between the thirteenth and ninth centuries B.C., glassmaking seriously declined in popularity in Egypt: [In the late Bronze Age,] about 1200 B.C . . . . peoples from Libya and Asia started to threaten the Egyptian state. These troubles coincided with internal decay and conditions were too unsettled for industry to flourish, although [glass] beads and small ornaments continued to be made after this date (Douglas & Frank 2). During this time, Egypt was weakened by "constant battle with Mesopotamia" (Battie 18). Glass was still considered a luxury item in Egypt, so, like any luxury item, its production declined during that period of economic crisis. However, the glassmaking industry was revived by the ninth century B.C. in Egypt around the time of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (Ancient tales rumored King Solomon's palace to be floored with a glass so even and transparent that the Queen of Sheba mistook the palace floor for a pool of water.) For most of the ninth century B.C., core-forming persisted as an important glassmaking technique in Egypt and resulted in the creation of many beautiful perfume bottles and other handled jars. Egyptian craftsmen occasionall
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Approximate Word count = 2007
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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