17/01/2024
Step into the ancient world of pottery! 🌍 Explore the Mastaba of Ti at Saqqara, revealing the art of crafting pots, baking bread, and brewing beer. 🍞🍺
the Pottery Scene in The Mastaba of Ti at Saqqara
the manufacture of the pots and the cooking of bread and the brewing and storage of beer, activities which are always intimately connected.
On the left stands a large oven, striped horizontally, which could suggest the idea of plates on which pots are placed to bake. A man is seated in front of the opening and fans the flames, whilst raising his hand to protect his face from the heat. Above him it states, 1: "heating the oven".
Next comes all the stages of manufacture, with, in first place a turner, who is seated low to the ground. The pot is turned on a table whose disk is rotated by the action of his right hand, whilst the left hand models the opening of the pot This could be the oldest depiction of a potter's wheel of ancient Egypt . The legend specifies the nature of the task, 2: "turning the Knw pots". The wet vessels are represented stacked above, before being baked. According to Egyptian perspective, it is necessary to understand of course that they are carefully aligned.
Next comes the scenes of finishing: two potters stand back to back in front of tall jars which they either inspect or correct minor flaws. The two legends, which are also placed back to back, having the determinative "jar" in common at the middle, 3: "turning a jar" / "modelling a jar". A seated man, on the right, holds aloft with one hand a container, whilst with his other he plunges it into the opening, smearing the inside with a product named "sin" (this product is not named in the tomb of Ty, but it is known from other tombs). It is very probably a form of clay, intended to seal the jar, or a glaze. Finally, a last character, on the left, arranges the finished pots on shelves.
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