Egyptian faience and vitreous glaze
Fayenza egipcia y esmalte vítreo
- Date
- c. 3500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Abydos and Naqada, Upper Egypt
- Credited to
- Predynastic Egyptians
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A paste of ground quartz with alkali and copper that, when fired, develops a bright blue-green vitreous surface. The first synthetic vitrified material, a chemical forerunner of glass and glaze.
It was also produced in Mesopotamia and the Indus with related recipes.
What it led to
- Mass production of amulets, ushabtis and beads, democratising a blue ornament once reserved for turquoise and lapis lazuli
- Empirical chemistry of fluxes and colourants that led to glass
- Glazed tiles (the Step Pyramid at Saqqara) and architectural cladding
Built on
- Steatite glazing (c. 4000 BC)
- Ceramic kilns
- Copper pigments