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Clay bowl: E.GA.4668.1943

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Current Location: Gallery 24

Titles

Clay bowl

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Description

Clay hand made bowl with painted decoration in the form of painted triangles.

Clay hand made bowk with painted decoration of inverted triangles in basket-pattern in red paint. The inside is black and the outside is light brown in colour. the walls are very thin, measuring 2.0-5.0 mm in thickness. The inside is burnished (rubbed with a hard object) and the outside is burnished and polished over the painted decoration. the result of this technique is that the lines have smudged. It is possible that the final polish was done with soft leather, this has acheived a softer finish and appearance on the surface. The pot has a pointed base and will not stand unaided; this was typical of such early pottery and would have needed either a basket or stand to support it. This vessel belongs to a group of Nubian pottery known as A-group. this is a dating sequence and this particular example comes towards the end of the period. There are many breaks to the walls of the vessel, which have been repaired. Some pieces are missing and have been filled.

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 0.206 m
Height: 0.201 m

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1943) by Gayer-Anderson, R. G. (Major)

Dating

Terminal A-Group
Production date: circa 3000 BC

Materials used in production

Clay

Techniques used in production

Painted
Burnished
Hand made

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.GA.4668.1943
Primary reference Number: 59120
Oldadmincategory: P

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 18 July 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Clay bowl" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/59120 Accessed: 2025-12-05 08:46:15

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/59120 |title=Clay bowl |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 08:46:15|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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