Egyptian Faience: Amulets of Africa.

Egyptian Faience was the first type of glaze invented. Over 6000 years ago in Mesopotamia, artists were mixing silica, quartz, sodium, and copper or cobalt to create a thixotropic paste that could be molded and shaped into small amulets and beads. It created glossy, bright, blue and green surfaces. These beautiful surfaces looked similar to precious stones like lapis lazuli and turquoise, making it a very common and widely used alternative for jewelry, small vessels, and tiles.

Amulet of Bes. Egyptian, 30BC-AD395, Faience.

Openwork Spacers, Egyptian, 945-715 BC, Faience.

Amulet of a son of Horus, Egyptian, 332 BC-395 AD, Blue Faience.

Frog Beads, Egyptian, 1540-1069 BC, Faience

There are three unique and interesting methods for using faience. The first is efflorescence glazing. This is a method where salts in the paste come to the surface during drying. Once fired, the salts create the glaze.

The second method is cementation glazing. In this method the formed beads are buried in a container of dry faience material, and once fired are scooped out and brushed off. The surrounding dry material glazes the beads, leaving behind the excess dry ingredients.

The third method is application glazing, where the ingredients are mixed into a sludgy consistency and are painting onto things, similar to our modern method of glazing. This method was sometimes used on organic material such as fruits, which would burn away in the firing, leaving a hollow faience piece.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a vast collection of Egyptian Faience. Here are a few of my favorites:

Faience Wedjat-eye amulet

Faience Ushabti

Faience amulet plaque with a group of de

Faience double spouted vessel in the for

Faience statuette of Aphrodite

Faience amulet

Faience amulet of Taweret

Faience amulet plaque of Isis nourishin

Faience amulet of Isis and Horus

A contemporary artist that works with Egyptian Faience is Amy Waller. She creates small pendants and dishes and has tried numerous recipes with a variety of outcomes. Here is some of her work.

Amy Waller creates these with the efflorescence technique, with copper as the colorant.

In my research of Egyptian faience, I also wanted to see what contemporary Egyptian jewelry artists were making. I found a few inspiring artists that make wonderful connections between their traditions and today.

Beauty Maswanganyi creates bold jewelry with is striking on the runway.

Menna Khalil makes beautiful pieces of nostalgia.

Laila Wahba creates seductive, bold work, and is well know in Cairo.

References:

Jewellery on a fashion ramp. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from http://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/jewellery-fashion-ramp

Laila Wahba Jewellery. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from http://mo4network.com/fashion/laila-wahba-jewellery

Menna Khalil (@mennakhalil) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://www.instagram.com/mennakhalil/

(n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?showOnly=withImage&q=egyptian faience&perPage=20&offset=80&pageSize=0&sortBy=relevance&sortOrder=asc&searchField=All

The History of Egyptian Faience. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/faience/history.htm

What is Egyptian faience? (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://www.amywallerpottery.com/faience/