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Ancient Egypt, Pre-Dynastic period, Naqada, ca. 3000 BCE. A beautiful coil-formed Nile silt pottery vase with a highly-burnished exterior surface covered in a deep, earthy iron-oxide slip. The conical body rests atop a gently rounded base, its walls gradually flaring outwards to a thin rim, with a deep interior cavity. The upper exterior rim as well as the vessel’s basin are colored black, comprised of thick carbon deposits formed by subjecting them extensively to thick clouds of smoke in an oxygen-deprived environment. Black-top vessels originally rose to popularity during the early Naqada I, a culture which inhabited ancient Egypt during its pre-dynastic period. The Naqada were first described by famed archaeologist William Flinders Petrie, however relatively little is known about them except that they were focused around the site of El-Amra in central Egypt, west of the Nile River. Size: 5.25″ W x 10″ H (13.3 cm x 25.4 cm)
Pre-Dynastic Egyptian black-top vessels were traditionally made from silt deposits taken from the Nile river due to their abundance in iron and silica. After the pot had dried but before it was fired, it would first be burnished and rubbed smooth with a small stone to create the pinstripe vertical striations still visible today. An iron-rich slip would then be applied just before firing; when placed in an oxygen-rich environment, the elevated temperatures would create the vessels
