Jar, Black-Topped Ware (work of art)

Created: circa 4000–3500 B.C.E.
Artist: Unknown Egyptian Artist (Predynastic Period, Nagada I)
Dimensions: Jar height, diameter, and inner rim diameter:; 7 1/2 x 7 11/16 x 5 1/2 inches (19.1 x 19.5 x 14 centimeters)
Medium: Ceramic, Nile silt clay; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes
Object Number: G.72.3.1
Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Classification: Ceramics
Department: Ancient

Key Ideas

The red-and-black color scheme of this jar was created with a red ochre slip (a mixture of clay and water.
The jar is made from clay that was produced by the silt of the Nile river.
This is the oldest object in the NCMA collection. It is considered to be prehistoric because it was made before the written history of Egypt and the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt (around 3200 BCE).

Learn More

Black-topped redware vessels like this one were made by hand using clay from the Nile River. Redware is pottery that is made from clay that contains high amounts of iron oxide. Once the potter shaped the redware vessel, it was left to dry in the sun. Before the vessel was completely dry, it was burnished with a pebble to give it a smooth, glossy look. The vessel was covered with a red ochre slip (a thick liquid mixture) and fired in a kiln. The irregular black band along the top of this jar was achieved by placing the fired vessel upside down in a bed of smoldering ashes or chaff, which reduced the oxygen level and turned the buried part of the vessel black.

The Nile silt body of this jar is covered with a red ochre slip. For ancient Egyptians red symbolized the desert, fire, blood, and dangerous forces. It also represented life and regeneration, a necessary creative force to balance violent chaos to make an orderly world. The Egyptian word for red, desher, is the root word in the language for “desert,” “furious,” and “wrath.” To do “red things” was to do evil things. Red ink was often used to write the word “evil,” as well as the names of hostile monsters and gods. The color black, on the other hand, was positive. It was associated with the fertile black silt deposited in the annual flood and the life-giving food grown in the fields.