The Development of Production Centers of Blue-Painted Pottery in New Kingdom Egypt

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the blue-painted pottery from all sites across Egypt and Egyptianized cities outside the Nile valley, and to discuss how its production centers were developed in the New Kingdom. The examination shows that, from the reign of Amenhotep II in mid-Eighteenth Dynasty through the Amarna Period in the late Eighteenth Dynasty, the find-spots of blue-painted pottery were essentially restricted to royal residential centers, such as Memphis, Amarna and Thebes. These provenances suggest that they were manufactured particularly in a few royal workshops. While, in subsequent periods, the fi nd-spots became widespread across Egypt, and spread out to neighboring regions. From the Post-Amarna Period at the end of Eighteenth Dynasty to Nineteenth Dynasty, the blue-painted pottery was still found from the main administrative centers or royal residential cities, such as Qantir, Memphis and Thebes, but they also became known from local administrative centers, including Groub, Asyut, Abydos and Elephantine. Furthermore, the locally made blue-painted pottery appeared from the Syro-Palestinian region and the area on Egypt’s Libyan border. If we compare fabrics, forms and designs of blue-painted pottery from these sites, some marked diff erences can be recognized, and they indicate that the blue-painted pottery was manufactured in workshops at each site. Hitherto, little is known about the development of blue-painted pottery manufacturing centers during New Kingdom, since the previous studies had been conducted by using fi nds from diff erent sites and periods separately. The present study, dealing with materials from the entire country and its outer regions, reveals that the blue-painted pottery production centers came to increase just after the Amarna Period which is well known as a signifi cant epoch of history, society, religion and art in New Kingdom Egypt.