Kohl Tube in the Shape of a Papyrus Column
New Kingdom
The middle of the second millennium B.C. was a true color revolution in faience and glass technologies. The ancient Egyptians had mastered faience, a ceramic-type material glazed in a distinctive turquoise blue, much earlier, but no glass seems to have been deliberately produced in Egypt before Dynasty 18.
Following Thutmose III’s military campaigns abroad (ca. 1458–1438 B.C.), Egyptian artisans emulated the sophisticated techniques for making polychrome glass known in Mesopotamia and Syria. They also began using glass colorants (including cobalt, antimony, and lead) in faience production. Luxury items in glass, like this small kohl tube in the shape of a papyrus column, became all the rage.
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