Essay Sample on The Ancient Ceramic: Place of Origin, Time & Techniques Used

Ceramics are considered as one of the oldest productions going back many years before. After being discovered that when clay can be mixed with water and then fired to form an object, human beings started using ceramics for domestic use and other purposes. The oldest ceramic tool was marked on 28,000 Before Common Era that is the Paleolithic era. This paper is about a certain ceramic object from the ancient describing its place of origin, the time it was made, its size, how it was made, the importance of the object, and how the piece can be recreated.

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One of the ancient ceramic objects is the ancient Blue Lotus Chalice. This artifact was made in Egypt. The artifact was made during the rule of Tutankhamun in 1332- 1323 Before Common Era (BCE), in the 18th reign, New Kingdom (Hope 2001). The Egyptians believed that when a person died, their immortal spirit remained connected to, and the spirit would rely on the buried body. As everything involved with death symbolized renewal and being born again, this faience cup portrays the blue lotus, a water lily that the Egyptians loved. By the cup bieng fully open at the top, it showed acceptance of drinking wine, a drink that the Egyptians considered their favorite. The lotus illustrated the circle of life as controlled by the sun. The current location where you can find Lotus Chalice is in an Egyptian museum located in Cairo. The size or physical dimensions of the Blue Lotus Chalice are, Height 5 in or (12.7 cm) diameter of the base 1 3/8 in or (3.5 cm) diameter of the top 3 3/8 in or (8.6vm), its width is 28.3 cm (Hope 2001).

Since the Egyptians are the ones who discovered the use of enamel to cover pottery, they used it to cover the Lotus Chalice and used blue color, which is a remarkable color since ancient times. The lotus Chalice was curved from solo part alabaster. With a combination of water, enamel, and clay, the object would then be fired to harden so as not to crack. The cup would later be painted with the desired color, and after drying, it would be presented for exhibition.

The Chalice resembles the full blossom of a white lotus that is recognized by observing its round petals. The handle support of the object was curved to form the shape the same as the blue lotus flowers that are verged by buds, which grows upwards. On the edge of the petals, Egyptians believed that is where the god Heh is seated on top of a basket while holding a tribute rib with many notches that were used to count years. On every back of the tadpole God Heh rested his arms, and the last point of every palm, there was a symbol of the ankh, which represented the sign of life. The ankh symbol represented the god of eternity and immensity, or as the Egyptians called him the god of millions of years. The shen ring depicted eternity, the tadpoles stood for 100,000, and the palm rib was seen as a symbol of the year (Wallis, 1898). Therefore, the Egyptians believed that Chalice represented the infinity and King Tutankhamun's eternal life.

Using other earthen elements, powders, clay, and water, one can mix them and form a similar shape like that of chalice cup. After formation, fire it for a few hours for it to harden, leave it to cool, and paint it with the color blue. After the painting dries up, you can present it for display or exhibition.

Work Cited

Wallis, Henry. Egyptian Ceramic Art: The MacGregor Collection; a Contribution Towards the History of Egyptian Pottery. B. Quaritch, 1898.

Hope, Colin A. Egyptian pottery. Vol. 5. Osprey Publishing, 2001.