General Information

Production of red-slipped table vessels made from fine alluvial Nile clays occured throughout both Lower and Upper Egypt, from the Delta to Aswan. Potters everywhere made small saucers and bowls for individual table service; but the range of other shapes differed depending on local taste and demand. In the Delta, Ptolemaic-Roman Red Slipped Ware is known to have been manufactured at Buto (Tell el-Fara'in), and may have been made elsewhere in lower Egypt as well. This was one of several Egyptian versions of fine slipped table wares (see also Ptolemaic Black Slipped Ware) whose manufacture began in the late fourth/early third century BCE to meet rising local demand for vessels inspired by Athenian and eastern Mediterranean table settings. Vessels were covered with a homogenous red slip that turned lustrous in firing. After firing vessels were polished or burnished, creating brilliant, highly polished monochromatic surfaces with striated strips or bands.*

In the 3rd-2nd c. BCE shapes include small saucers and bowls for individual service as well as small serving vessels such as dippers (kyathos), olpes, and table juglets. Vessels in the shape of cooking pots as well as fitted lids also appear; these may have been intended to serve warm food at the table. In the 1st c. BCE and CE shapes changed to match prevailing fashions. Production of small individual saucers and bowls seems to have stopped, while larger-sized plates and shallow bowls, along with serving forms such as round-bellied lagynoi, became increasingy popular.

For other versions of this ware, see Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped Nile Silt ware (Middle-Upper Egypt) and Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped Ware (Aswan clay).

*this description is adapted from Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom, "Cave 169 at Marisa: The Imported Ptolemaic Red Ware," Journal of Hellenistic Pottery 4 (2019).

The silt fabric is generally micaceous; the paste is fired red or reddish-brown and gray in closed vessels; plates can have a gray core.  Before firing surfaces were covered in a homogenous red slip that was polished to a high shine.

Ptolemaic Red Ware

Dunqash (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)

Maresha/Marisa (Israel/Shephelah)