Faïence

It may well be admitted that this love for faïence was only the setting of the drama, and that the hobby for collecting carried to such a degree of enthusiasm deserves to be studied almost as much as the passion for women and gambling, ambition or avarice.

At a height of two hundred and twenty-five feet from the ground it is crowned by a cone-shaped spire, in whose side are many rows of ornamental niches in which are hung pieces of faïence.

However, analysis has shown that the composition of the vessel fragments found at Kerma, typical of faïences found in Middle Kingdom Egypt, with particularly close parallels to those found at Lisht by the Metropolitan Museum Expedition, differs on the whole from the large glazed tiles and larger vessels found at the site that do appear to be of Nubian manufacture (Lacovara 1998: 48).