Black Topped Jar

Ovoid neckless jar with small rounded rim and flat base. Burnished red pottery with shiny black band around the top. Some greying at the interface between the red and black. “Black topped ware” is the most prominent type of hand made pottery in the Predynastic Period and typical of Naqada I and early Naqada II periods. The ware acquired its name from its most distinct visual feature: a black band at the top of the vessel which was achieved by putting the vessel upside down in a bonfire. Those areas deprived of oxygen and smoked by the burning fuel would turn black in firing while the rest of the surface became a glossy red. Recorded as being from "between Ballas and Negadeh". Marked in pencil '384'. A label accompanying the pot says, "To dear Mrs Pearse from Margaret Taylor, July 12th. 1904." Compare the shape of the jar with Anna Wodzíńska, 'A Manual of Egyptian Pottery Volume 1' (Boston, 2009) Naqada II 35, p. 133.