This ware is a product of a vibrant ceramic industry that arose in southern Idumea in the 3rd c. BCE. The region's major city and market center, Maresha/Marisa, was surrounded by a dense cluster of villages and rural farmsteads. These communities generated a high demand for fine table vessels, which local potters met by the production of a wide array of shapes, including vessels for individual eating and drinking, table service, and personal toilette.
Idumean Hellenistic Slipped Fine Ware is yet another version of the many regional slipped tableware productions in the eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. It is contemporary w...
Idumean Hellenistic Slipped Fine Ware from Amuda (Tal Rogovski photograph)
Idumean Slipped fine ware from Amazia
Very hard-fired, clean, dense fabric, ranging in color from dull pink-brown to bright pink-brown. A thin, matte slip was applied on both interior and exterior surfaces, and fired variously black, grey, brown, and brownish-red. The fabric is very well levigated, marked occasionally by fine and small white chalk inclusions that tend to show up as small spalls on the surface, although they are rarely visible in the section. The fabric is smooth to the touch, with a very slight powdery feel.
