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A Story of Patience: The History of Pottery in Egypt

February 15, 2022

“Pottery was literally a multidimensional cultural container that contained several aspects of the thoughts, beliefs, relationships, rituals, practices, and lifestyles of the ancient Egyptians,” reads a 2020 Egyptian study on the craft in the ancient world. In a rushed world focused on immediacy and speed, a potter’s work relies on a rare virtue: patience. An art of simple pleasure, pottery is formed when clay and patience coalesce. In pottery making, no two pots are ever the same. Stories are told through the cracks in the clay, its shape that morphs as hands cup together, and the pieces of ourselves that we impart into its making. Home to a wide range of different arts, pottery is one of Egypt’s ancient arts. Masters in all things art, ancient Egyptians excelled at pottery. This clay pot is an artifact from ancient Egypt. It even emerged during the predynastic period, the earliest period in recorded Egyptian history. Pottery was already being created during what is known as the Naqada II period (3500-3200 BCE), long before the pyramids were built. Later on, tomb scenes, particularly in Upper Egypt, depicted the main stages of pottery in…


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