The magical material faience

Faience was likely quite inexpensive to make. Most of the materials - sand, lime and alkali – were easy to find. Copper was probably the most expensive material because it was mined in the desert. Copper was required to give faience its well-known turquoise color. The easy availability of these ingredients has led to the assumption that the production of faience has always been inexpensive and that it was therefore mostly used as a substitute for more expensive materials, like lapis lazuli and turquoise. D. C. Patch, ‘By Necessity or Design: Faience Used in Ancient Egypt’, in F. D. Friedman (ed.), Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Faience (Museum of Art; London, 1998), 32-33.

Once the raw materials were obtained, they were most likely taken to workshops associated with priests and temples. But it is also possible that faience production took place in the royal workshops, which were located in the industrial quarters of the city. Faience was probably often produced in small quantities in private households.

The main ingredients of faience are quartz and alkali, after which lime and copper were added. Water was then added to produce the right consistency. A craftsman then hand-formed it or used a mold to make the desired shape. A second person would have been in charge of the kilns. When it is fired, faience gets its typical blue-green glassy surface. F. D. Friedman, ‘Faience: the Brilliance of Eternity’, in F. D. Friedman (ed.), Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian faience (Museum of Art; London, 1998), 15-21.