Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c6.s1.14

c6.s1.14

The shapes are commonly bowls or convex-sided dishes, with a certain analogy—as, indeed, has the high quality of the fabric—to the P.G. pottery. The two may well represent the same tradition, with the addition of an improved or variant technique in the case of the N.B.P. Ware. The discovery of the new technique may be ascribed to the potters of the Ganges Basin, where the ware is particularly abundant. It may be suggested as an idle guess that the great popularity of the Ware was not altogether unconnected with its superficial resemblance to forged iron, which first appears in northern India shortly before N.B.P. Ware. Alternatively, it may reflect the liking of the Persians for a high metallic polish, as represented very notably in some of their masonry (p. 174).