Ceramics and pottery industry in ancient Egypt
 
Pottery making “… a craft that persisted with man, and dates back to the pre-dynastic era in Egypt, and the ancient Egyptian was the first to take care of it, and he reached a high degree of accuracy and perfection, starting from food utensils and decorative tools, to the coffins of the dead, so they raised the pottery maker.” Al-Fakharani reached the highest position that a simple worker could reach. They depicted the god “Khnum”, the god of creation among the Pharaohs, sitting on a pottery wheel to form a human being.
 
“Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century AD, summarized many facts about Egypt with these three words. The most important of which is that industry that would not have been established without it. It has been scientifically proven that the silt that comes from the heights of the valley In the flood season, the finest clays for pottery are made.
 
In the past, the Egyptians eagerly waited for the flood season. As soon as the silt arrived, they hastened to collect it and present it to the pottery makers to manufacture pots and household and priestly necessities. Then it was burned to change its colour according to the type of silt from which it was made, so the clay deposits turned into brown or red. The deposits of calcareous plateaus Their colour turns pink or light red. If the burning process increases, the colour varies according to the strength of the heat, so it turns into a squirrel, grey, purple or greenish-grey. Unfortunately, after the construction of the High Dam, these sediments disappeared completely.
 
The pottery industry begins by purifying the clay from the impurities attached to it. The worker grinds it well with his foot, adding hay or crushed dung if the silt is greasy, then begins to form the pots, and what forms found in the Pharaonic tombs show us the extent of development and diversity in The formation of “clay” through the ages. At first, it was simple and suited to the demands of daily life. It was formed in cooking pans, storage vessels, mugs and ladles with long and short handles.
 
Drying clay pots is the most important step in pottery making, so if that process fails, exposure to air or heat. At the same time, it is still wet; it will be damaged and cracked, especially if it is made of microscopic clay, so they are forced to dry it naturally until it is ready for burning gradually. The worker would burn it on the ground; Then, he started building the furnaces, which consisted of three parts: the firehouse, the compaction room, and the chimney. After the pots came out of the ovens, he painted them with a paint that sticks to them completely and does not separate from them because the proportion of Its shrinkage is equal to that of the vessel itself.
 
Among the strangest forms found in the pharaonic tombs are the double vessels with the buzzy, which were formed in the form of animals, fish and birds, and it seems that they were made by hand or by the method of moulds. However, archaeologists disagreed about the period in which the ancient Egyptian used the wheel to make pottery vessels; he said that its first use was for making the Pharaonic jars that the Royal Factory produced during the First Dynasty. Others said that the beginning of its use dates back to the reign of “Khumuy” in the Second Dynasty. This wheel was a round groove on which clay was placed during its formation, no more than Its height is more than 40 cm, and the disc is no more than 35 cm high, and it was rotated by hand with a vertical or vertical axis.
 
In the Ptolemaic rule in the first half of the fourth century, pottery was influenced by Greek art, as they were the most skilled people in using soft red clay, represented by the Aswan silt, which is used until now in the ancient Egypt region to produce pottery products such as vases, which is the best types of raw materials used In pottery production.
 
The Greeks used in the formation of their pottery vessels, a wheel that is very similar to the wheel that is used in the modern era, as it was a winding column fixed on the ground, about 100 centimetres long, on which a pirate was fixed, the upper used to form the pots. The lower was located a short distance from the fulcrum Main, used to control the rotation speed of the first pinch; its diameter is three times the diameter of the top disc.
 
The Greeks began building ovens round in shape, equipped with two separate and connected channels, called the “kiln of tanoura”, in which pottery products were burned, especially “pots”. A lid with an external protrusion in the middle as a handle was used to store all liquids of wine, perfumes and oils, and glasses with two handles were found on both sides, which were presented as a prize for the victors, in addition to vessels with human, animal and bird shapes. As for the decoration of the product, some see that it is similar To the Pharaonic era, but they are unique in bas-relief.
In the Roman era, that industry was characterized by three types of products, the first of imported clay, and the second of local clay, dominated by the character of roughness and inaccuracy, so it was known as “folk pottery”, and the third type was an intermediary between imported pots and popular utensils, so it was made using imported pots. But Batinah is local, and although this type continued in its manufacture until the Coptic era, it could not match the beauty and delicacy of foreign craftsmanship.
 
Among the forms that appeared in this era, the “fountain”, which is a cylindrical vessel with a height ranging between 70 to 85 cm, with two handles, a tapered base drawn down in the form of a funnel, small necks with narrow nozzles, and shapes in the form of female heads, decorated With prominent ornaments defining the details of the face, as this era was distinguished by the manufacture of pottery seals, which consist of round shapes that are decorated with deep and prominent ornaments in the form of animals, birds and plant motifs, which were used to print these decorative units on pottery vessels before they were burned, and in this way two types of decorations are provided, Prominent and chiselled.
 
In the Coptic era, the art of pottery depended on the forms that were present in Pharaonic Egypt, with the addition of symbols that express the Christian belief, such as grape clusters and crosses, so that Coptic pottery becomes an art that has its own peculiarity that distinguishes it as a mediating style between other styles, and the most important types of pottery that were found on pottery Ordinary brown and red whose clay contains iron compounds that give it this colour, and grey, squirrel and yellowish-orange, which are made of “clay” that have a tan colour.
 
Some moulds used in that era were found near Abu Mina Monastery in the Mariout region of the Western Desert. They were intended for making pottery bottles with the saint “Mina” engraved on one side, and on the other hand, his name was engraved. As for the round products, craftsmen at that time used the traditional wheel. Which is still used until now, and Coptic pottery was not limited to storing liquids, grains, and household uses only, but was also used as an architectural element and was used to construct monks’ buildings.
 
One of the most important forms that spread in the Coptic era in the manufacture of large dishes, which are now known as “the service”, although there are several gaps used to put different types of food in one plate, in addition to the pottery “saddles” which are pillars of light that were used in lighting At night, the pottery seals with their sacred decorations. As for the pottery decorations, there were three types of spread in that era, prominent, painted and incised decorations.
 
In the Islamic era, the pottery industry in Egypt acquired new qualities, and perhaps what was recorded by the Persian traveller “Nasiri Khusraw Qabadiani” in the eleventh century AD shows that, for he said, “They make pottery of every kind in Egypt, as it is nice and transparent, and they make cups and mugs from it. And the dishes and others while they colour it. “The pottery and ceramic chips found in the ruins of Fustat are vivid evidence of that.
 
Scholars differ in the historical ceramic classification of that era, some of them relied on time, style, or decorative style, but no one disagrees that the city of Fustat granted wide fame to Egyptian ceramics, whose ruins were found on models of ceramic art from the Coptic era until the sixth century ten.
 
In the Islamic era, there were two types of pottery making, which was dedicated to the notables class, made from good materials selected by the most famous craftsmen, and a popular type produced with cheap local materials. It was the most common type among people, and there were three types of farming methods, the manual method. It is the primitive method, the wheel method, and the method of “pouring” used to form statues and thin vessels, so its dough is liquid.
 
Before the Islamic era, pottery was burned in “kilns”, square in shape, in which the fire did not reach directly to the pots but rather an insulator between them. The Islamic kiln was round in shape, built with red bricks, and pottery pieces were stacked in it, as it consisted of three parts, house Fires, stacking chambers, and chimneys. Fustat was famous in the Tulunid and Fatimid periods for several pottery products, including ceramic pottery with a metallic lustre and carved decorations. Fustat was characterized by its softness, fragility and tendency to read.
 
During the Mamluk era, the industry moved to Cairo. It was distinguished by the manufacture of sockets made with two walls and pottery pots in different shapes and various decorations. Insecurity. “
 
Round seals were also spread, decorated with geometric, plant and human drawings, birds and animals. They were even used as moulds for cakes during holidays and seasons and various types of children’s toys, including hollow statues of birds and animals, whistles and shawls that are still found in the countryside until now.
 
Pottery industry continued in this primitive state and did not witness any progress until the end of the nineteenth century, when Johnson Pasha, director of the princely workshops at that time, established a ceramics factory in the “mouth of the Gulf”, using some furnaces for salt glass in the production of tiles. Still, the factory did not continue. For a long time, he stopped working. Then, “Matthew”, the porcelain dealer in Alexandria, established another factory with the help of the French potter “Kotet”, who sought help from the Greek potters.
 
With the beginning of the twentieth century, ceramic factories continued to be established individually. In the thirties, Mrs Hoda Shaarawi established a ceramics factory in Cairo. I salute the models inspired by Islamic arts. In addition, she sent scholarships to Europe. Mahmoud Saber was the first envoy. The “Sever” factory in France. He returned to study ceramics at the École Polytechnique, then established a special section for ceramics in the School of Decorative Industries in Bulaq.
 
During the fifties of the last century, the College of Applied Arts provided generations of artists who excelled in drawing inspiration from the inherited traditions of ceramics, headed by Saeed Al-Sadr, Hassan Heshmat, Abdul-Ghani Al-Shall, Muhammad Taha Hussein, and among the non-academic artists, Muhammad Hussein Hejres, Safia Helmy Hussein, The two who established a free studio in Helwan that served as a meeting place for lovers of art and heritage, in which many learned that art, the most famous of them was Muhammad Mandour, who is considered today the most important creator in Egyptian ceramics.
 
The People’s Association, which is known today as the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, had several attempts in the forties and fifties of the last century, opening sections to train amateurs in the art of pottery and ceramics, and actually succeeded in establishing an annual pottery forum in Qena governorate in 1999 AD, and its courses helped develop the craft. And to create a fertile meeting point between creative people, which helped that art not to disappear.
 
From Al-Ghouri Agency, the first site was launched to revive and develop several inherited traditional crafts, so a general pottery section was established, which developed greatly until it became a small pottery centre in the ancient city of Fustat, under the supervision of Saeed Al-Sadr, who combined the spontaneity of craftsmen with the expertise of the Academy of Applied Arts. In 1983 it expanded. This centre was added to the centre for casting bronze. It was managed by the sculptor “Muhammad Othman”, who held an international exhibition for ceramics since 1992, and in 1995 began operations to expand the centre, especially after it moved to the Arts Complex, including a group of workshops for production and training, and ceremonies for the experiences of potters. And museum halls and exhibits of ceramics. The pottery industry is found in Fayoum.