Black Topped Jar

Burnished red pottery jar with shiny black band around the top. “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. Ovoid shape with flat base. Numbers marked on the base are now difficult to read, except 2205 in ink which is Rev. William MacGregor's collection catalogue number. Wellcome Historical Medical Museum acc. no. 13494. Purchased at Sotheby's 6 July 1922 lot 1744 (15 items): "Twelve red terra-cotta Vases, of the Archaic period, with manganese staining, some from Professor Petrie's excavations at Negadeh, most of the vases are of ovoid form, the sizes vary from 9 in. to 3 1/2 in. high; also three Stibium Pots, in terra-cotta, of elongated eeg-shape, 3 in. long." CONDITION NOTE 1998: Chipped rim, surface worn, surface loss at base and rim, grey residue, old labels adhered to surface.