General Information

Rashaya al-Fukhar ware is a wheel-made, painted, and glazed ceramic type named after its primary place of production, the Lebanese village of Rashaya al-Fukhar (fukhar is the Arabic word for pottery) on the southwestern side of Mt. Hermon. Its production was described by a number of 19th century travels dating back to Burckhardt (see description in Taxel 2012: 126), and ethnoarchaeological studies of later 20th century production have been published (e.g. Zevulun 1978). Similar wares were also produced in other villages along the foothills of Mt. Hermon (Walker 2009: 64, n. 42). While the ware is most associated with the late Ottoman and modern periods (i.e. the 19th and 20th centuries CE), an "early" production appears in the late 15th or early 16th century, found, for example, at Horvat Sumaqa (Tsioni 2010): Mamluk-early Ottoman Painted and Glazed Ware. Petrographic analysis of two early Rashaya al-Fukhar ware sherds from Khirbat Din'ila indicates that neither were produced at Rashaya al-Fukhar, and both were produced in different workshops (Stern 2014: 92-93), indicating that multiple production centers were active for both the early and late types. The ware is most commonly found in Lebanon, northern Israel, and northern Jordan, but is also found in smaller quantities as far south as Tall Hisban (Walker 2009: 54, 59) and Ramla (Taxel 2012: 126). It is found in a variety of forms, primarily spouted water jugs (abariq), jars, and bowls.

Early Rashaya al-Fukhar ware is wheel-made, in a pinkish or reddish-brown fabric (occasionally gray), which is generally well-levigated and well-fired. It has painted geometric designs in one or two shades of brown paint over a white slip, occasionally either partly glazed in green or with splashes of colorless or green glaze (Tsioni 2010: 230-231). Later Rashaya al-Fukhar ware is found in orange-pink, white (Walker 2009: 54), yellowish, orange, or pale brown fabric (Taxel 2012: 126), well-fired and often metallic. Like the earlier version of the ware, the closed forms are generally painted in geometric designs in red, brown, or red-brown, often over a white slip or white paint, often with splashes of dark green or black glaze (Taxel 2012: 126; Walker 2009: 54). Open forms (and some closed forms) are often not painted, but simply partially covered with a dark green or brown glaze (Taxel 2012: 126).

Rashaya al-Fakhkhar ware (Walker 2009), Rachaya al-Foukhar ware, Rashia al-Foukhar ware, other variations on these spellings