Blue Faience

Egyptian faience is a non-clay based ceramic composed of crushed quartz or sand glazed with materials that chemically form the colour when the piece is heated, it was a technique that persisted in Ancient Egypt for four millennia. Faience was very widely used for small objects from beads to small statues. It was the most common material for scarabs and other forms of amulet and ushabti figures which were placed in the tombs of the dead, faience was also used in most forms of ancient Egyptian jewellery. Larger applications included cups and bowls, and wall tiles, mostly used for temples. Blue and turquoise were the most common colours, in some cases it appears that these colours were favoured as imitations of the highly prized Lapis Lazuli and Turquoise stones.