Faience production and use in the Late Period Lower Egypt from an international perspective

Abstract: Faience objects were first produced in Egypt in the pre-Dynastic era and were since then deeply connected with ancient Egyptian material culture and everyday life. Faience has been used for vessels, jewellery and for religious objects and the techniques and trends have evolved over time. There is a great amount of faience objects excavated from Naukratis making it a suitable location for this study. This study has used a catalogue with objects excavated in Naukratis to identify trends, Greek and Egyptian faience, and the market for faience in Naukratis. By first introducing the location of Naukratis in the Late Period, the study then provides an overview over faience production techniques both from Egypt and Naukratis. This was then applied to the objects to distinguish reoccurring features and potential cultural influence on the faience production and demand. The aim was to show the exchange of production techniques between Greek and Egyptian faience which can be exemplified by the Greek technique for polychromatic faience showing up in Egyptian faience objects with traditionally Egyptian motifs. The objects revealed a demand for handcrafted faience with Egyptian motifs of animals, fertility gods and a design for both suspension and as standing decoration. This supports later day findings that the city of Naukratis was a city not only dedicated to Greek citizens but had a mixed population. It also showed that while the origin of a faience object is difficult to determine, influences of technique can still be seen.