Egyptian Faience:
Egyptian faience is a sintered–quartz ceramic displaying surface vitrification which creates a bright lustre of various colours, with blue-green being the most common. Defined as a “material made from powdered quartz covered with a true vitreous coating, usually in a transparent blue or green isotropic glass,” faience is distinct from the crystalline compound Egyptian blue.[1] Notably, faience is considerably more porous than glass proper and can be cast in molds to create vessels or objects.[2]Although it contains the major constituents of glass (silica, lime) and no clay until late periods, faience is frequently discussed in surveys of ancient pottery, as in stylistic and art-historical terms objects made of it are closer to pottery styles than ancient Egyptian glass. [Wikipedia]
Noted in “World Roundup,” Archaeology (September/October 2018):
ISRAEL: A small faience head from Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel may represent a king who lived during the 9th century B.C. The sculpture, which sports a manicured beard, wavy tresses, and a painted black and yellow headband, was likely part of a figurine that would have stood about 8 to 10 inches tall. Its high degree of artistry is leading experts to believe it may depict King Ahab of Israel, King Hazael of Aram- Damascus, or King Ethbaal of Tyre, three rulers known from the Bible.
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