Folklore Friday - faience of Egyptian amulets

Image: egyptological.com

Welcome to the third, and final installment in the Ancient Egyptian amulet series. Today: the material faience. - prized for its intense blues and versatile for its inexpensive, even humble origins... 

I think my interest in faience is twofold. I love clay, and the alchemy of firing and glazing. I am continually inspired by Art History. And that color! I could dive in and get lost. It really resonates with me... 

To the right is William. Have you "Met" him? (Art history humor! Forgive me...) He is a famous piece in the Metropolitan's Egyptian collection. He has his own page in the shop!  How he became a celebrity I do not know - but he IS made of faience... 

The Egyptian word for faience is "tjehnet" meaning "shining, dazzling". Archaeological evidence dates the use of faience to as early as 3500 BCE. It was developed as a substitute for lapis lazuli and was used for beads, amulets, statuettes, bowls... 

Vessels, a shabti figure*, and a beaded netted collar. 

Comprised of finely ground quartz, lime, copper oxide, water, and a binder/gum arabic - this was a recipe of common ingredients, easily sourced in the area. The materials are mixed with water to form a paste, them molded or modeled and fired when dry. The paste is thixotropic - and hard to work with as it is much less plastic and malleable than clay. The interesting thing about this material ... it is self glazing!  The term is "efflorescence of glazing" - glaze materials ( water soluble alkali salts) are mixed with quartz. As the water evaporates, the salts migrate to the surface, recrystallizing on the surface. When fired= glaze. 

Knowing that - take a look at the detail in these amulets of Egyptian deities: 

In my research recently I have found recipes and may attempt mixing up a batch of Egyptian paste in the fall when I return to the Ceramics studio /classroom on my regular schedule. In the past I have used "Egyptian Paste" from art suppliers like Dick Blick. (At the writing of this article, I could not find this prepared version for sale. Recipes for making  from scratch are readily available with a Google search.)

 Its like trying to sculpt peanut butter - the consistency is so gooey! As per the ancient methods - I found bisqued ceramic molds the most user friendly: they are porous, and absorb moisture quickly, allowing the molded paste to release, and drop out easily.

The challenge is patience. The paste is best left alone... as the crystals form on the surface as the piece dries. Sometimes patience is tough... Shown here are a few samples done when researching this material.

I love the colors and the history of the materials. For all its quirks - I do think I am inspired to give it another go!

Thanks for following this exploration! I would love to hear what you think... 

Until next time - 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com

*The ushabti was a funerary figurine used in Ancient Egypt. Ushabtis were placed in tombs among the grave goods and were intended to act as substitutes for the deceased, should he/she be called upon to do manual labor in the afterlife. They were used from the Middle Kingdom (around 1900 BC) until the end of the Ptolemaic Period nearly 2000 years later.

References: 

Faience research article by G. Mackenzie

Blog about experiments with Egyptian paste. 

Folklore Friday: Ancient Egyptian amulets

Collection of amulets, Senckenberg, Naturmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany.

Amulets... 

From Merriam-Webster: : a charm (as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to aid the wearer or protect against evil (as disease or witchcraft)

And while that definition may sound a bit Medieval - I think the definition infers that a piece have meaning and believed power/symbolism to be seen as an amulet. And when I think amulets - I think Egypt. Since I decided to do this series of posts, I have been reading and researching - and having great fun... I look forward to sharing it with you. 

Warning: I have been fascinated with Ancient Egypt my whole life. Well, specifically since I was 8. When the monumental exhibit of Tutankhamen's tomb goods was in DC at the National Gallery. ( No, my parents did not take me, and yes, I begged. Scarred for life? maybe a little...) A secondary degree in Art History and supplemental study on my own... clearly this interest wasn't a passing fancy. So let me start with the more iconic symbols... 

In Ancient Egypt, amulets were worn by the living... and the dead. Worn as necklaces, placed in a mummy's wrappings, they were a unifying element across the levels of society - from the common folk to the nobles, to the divine royalty. Certain symbols were used by both living and dead; others had specific funerary purposes. Their recorded use dates back to app 3100 BCE, 1000 years prior to the first Egyptian Dynasty. Most frequently worn for protection, some were fertility amulets, others invoked certain deities and their attributes. ( More on that later)

Materials - 

 Clay, faience, shell, gemstone, gold, glass, bone, ivory to name a few. Cost was a factor in materials - of course - but so was symbolism. Colors help great symbolic meaning to the Ancient Egyptians. For example, lapis imported from Afghanistan was very precious, and expensive. The deep blue represented both the heavens ( the gods, life, rebirth) and also the primordial Nile flood (life, fertility, rebirth). Gold, plentiful in Egypt was seen as the sun;  un-tarnishing, unaffected by time it represented the immortal, the divine. 

Images from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Ankh  - life, immortality, rebirth, reincarnation

The Egyptians believed fundamentally in an Afterlife. Hence the tombs containing all the items needed to live on in the way to which you were accustomed. The ankh appears everywhere in Egyptian art. Worn as an amulet it would also confer health and strength to the wearer. 

The shape can be said to reference a sandal strap - top oval around your ankle, long tail down between your toes... It is also seen as a reference to the Nile. The top representing the Delta, the length being the Nile itself, and the 2 side arms representing the annual flooding of the river. This flood deposited rich silt, creating arable land on either side of the banks. This truly represented the life of the ancient people in that desert climate. 

Images from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Scarab  - sun, resurrection, transformation, protection

The dung beetle, common in the region and highly symbolic. The beetle lays its eggs in a ball of clay or dung and then rolls it off, burying it. This was a direct metaphor of the sun, rolled across the sky, to disappear, and magically reappear the following day. As the sun god Ra was chief among the Ancient Egyptian deities - the scarab was an important symbol. 

Worn as an amulet it brought health, strength. and virility. A scarab amulet was placed at the heart of a mummy; the heart being the seat of all thought, emotion, intellect... 

Photo credits: 1 & 4 - British Museum, 2 - Bader Ancient Art 3 - Williams College 

The wedjat or Eye of Horus - protection from evil, healing, restoration, protection, sacrifice

The wedjat eye is perhaps the best known of all Egyptian protective amulets. The drop and spiral below the eye imitate the markings on a lanner falcon, the bird associated with the god Horus. The name wedjat means 'the sound one', referring to the lunar left eye of Horus that was plucked out by his rival Seth during their conflict over the throne. The restoration of the eye is variously attributed to Thoth, Hathor or Isis. The injury to the eye and its subsequent healing were believed to be reflected in the waxing and waning of the moon.

The first use of the wedjat eye as an amulet was whenHorus offered it to Osiris. It was so powerful that it restored him to life. The regenerative and protective powers of the amulet meant that it was placed among the wrappings of mummies in great numbers. It could even replace food offerings in rituals. It first appeared in the late Old Kingdom and was used until mummification was no longer practised, in the Roman Period (30 BC - AD 395)

Amulets were made from many different materials, but blue or green faience was the most common, as these colours symbolized regeneration to the ancient Egyptian. The wedjat eye was also worn by the living. Faience factories have been found at Tell el-Amarna, where rings with wedjat eye bezels were very popular among the inhabitants.

(Who am I to paraphrase the British Museum?!  I normally write my own entries, but that was too succinct to pass up. The Isis and Osiris myth is a powerful one. Love, treachery, deceit, a quest, magic - and a great insight into Egyptian beliefs on life, resurrection, rebirth. Read it here if you are interested. 

Thank you for staying with me until the end! I hope there was something interesting there for you - I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Stay tuned in 2 weeks - a few more obscure symbols and how they translate into pieces I am making - making and making... as the Beadfest clock counts down! 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com