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Faience, a glazed ceramic material, was first created in Ur and Babylon around 2000-1500 BCE. It was used extensively by the Ancient Egyptians because it was cheaper and easier to mold than real precious gems (i.e. turquoise, lapis lazuli). Faience is ground quartz, sand, and/or silica mixed with minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. To use faience, craftsmen would add water to the crushed minerals to make a paste; the paste would then be pressed into a mold and fired. Egyptian Faience (“Tjehnet”) was blue, dazzling, and illuminating. It symbolized life and rebirth (which was important considering the Egyptians were obsessed with death/the afterlife). Faience was used to make beaded jewelry, bowls, religious figures, and vessels. It can be similar in color to lapis lazuli, a rare and stunning blue medium found in Afghanistan.
