History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c20.s3.t1.10

v1.c20.s3.t1.10

The colours of slips used at Mohenjo-daro were buff, cream, pink and red. The first two seem to be natural ones. Lighter pink shades are attributed generally to traces of iron in the clay which on firing threw a pink colour. But the darker pink shades seem to have been produced by the addition of a slight red colouring. Red slips were produced by mixing red ochres with the clay or by using red ochre itself in solution as a slip. Dark red colour of the slips seems to have been derived by the use of red oxide in the slip (Jaggi,I,p. 100). The colours of these slips neither vanish nor fade in firing.