rk, semi-transparent olive
green. A zone of blue and yellow zigzags, bounded above and below by yellow
bands, encircles the body of the vase at the part of its largest
circumference. The handles are pale green, and the thread round the lip is
pale blue. Princess Nesikhonsu had beside her, in the vault at Deir el
Bahari, some glass goblets of similar work. Seven were in whole colours,
light green and blue; four were of black glass spotted with white; one only
was decorated with many-coloured fronds arranged in two rows (fig. 228).
The national glass works were therefore in full operation during the time
of the great Theban dynasties. Huge piles of scoriae mixed with slag yet
mark the spot where their furnaces were stationed at Tell el Amarna, the
Ramesseum, at El Kab, and at the Tell of Eshmuneyn.

[Illustration: Fig. 229.--Hippopotamus in blue glaze.]

[Illustration: Fig. 230.--Glazed ware from Thebes.]

[Illustration: Fig. 231.--Glazed ware from Thebes.]

The Egyptians also enamelled stone. One half at least of the scarabaei,
cylinders, and amulets contained in our museums are of limestone or schist,
covered with a coloured glaze. Doubtless the common clay seemed to them
inappropriate to this kind of decoration, for they substituted in its place
various sorts of earth--some white and sandy; another sort brown and fine,
which they obtained by the pulverisation of a particular kind of limestone
found in the neighbourhood of Keneh, Luxor, and Asuan; and a third sort,
reddish in tone, and mixed with powdered sandstone and brick-dust. These
various substances are known by the equally inexact names of Egyptian
porcelain and Egyptian faience. The oldest specimens, which are hardly
glazed at all, are coated with an excessively thin slip. This vitreous
matter has, however, generally settled into the hollows of the hieroglyphs
or figures, where its lustre stands out in strong contrast with the dead
surface of the surrounding parts. The colour most frequently in use under
the ancient dynasties was green; but yellow, red, brown, violet, and blue
were not disdained.[61] Blue predominated in the Theban factories from the
earliest beginning of the Middle Empire. This blue was brilliant, yet
tender, in imitation of turquoise or lapis lazuli. The Gizeh Museum
formerly contained three hippopotamuses of this shade, discovered in the
tomb of an Entef[62] at Drah Abu'l Neggeh[63] One was lying down, the two
others were standing in the ma