Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c11.s13: Faience
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c11.s13
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Faience
v1.c11.s13.1
Faience was very much popular with the Indus people because it served many purpose to them. The main application of faience was in amulets, animal figures, balls and marbles, beads, button, finger rings, bracelets, head ornaments, seals, studs, vessels, weights etc.
v1.c11.s13.2
Basically it has a hard, fine granular body, covered with a glaze. The prevailing coloured are bluish-green, although white, chocolate and red specimens have also been found. It has a compact granular structure, composed of angular quartz grains bounded together with a transparent cement. Its chemical analysis shows that here silica is the chief constituent which forms about 90 per cent of the total amount. It has been inferred that the original faience paste was composed of finely crushed quartz, or pure white sand, a glassy flux and a colouring matter. It is obvious that the moulded objects had to be dried and fired to bring about the fusion of the flux; but the question, how precisely the various ingredients of the paste were endowed with the necessary coherence and plasticity, is difficult to answer. It may be that some organic matter might have been in the course of firing long before the flux underwent fusion. Possibly silicate of soda was employed as a constituent of the paste and served to impart the desired property to the wet paste. This preparation of an alkaline silicate by the fusion of soda with sand, was well-known to the ancient nation who practised the art of glazing.
v1.c11.s13.3
The white body of the faience is free from any metallic colouring matter and forms the basis for the coloured varieties. The blue and green shades were produced by the addition of copper oxide to the paste, probably in the form of a natural ore of this metal; and the chocolate colour is due to cuprous oxide which was the result of a reducing atmosphere in the kiln. The light red variety was prepared by the addition of red ochre to the raw paste.
v1.c11.s13.4
The body material of this peculiar class of ware is powdered steatite which is bound together with a flux. Originally, the objects of this material is soft and cream-white, but the presence of little copper oxide on it leaves no doubt that these were originally coloured blue or green, like ordinary faience. The faience objects are covered with a distinct layer of glaze which must have been applied separately especially in the second firing. Different colours are found, about which we have mentioned earlier. The blue shades owe their colour to copper oxide while the green contains iron oxide in addition. The black or dark maroon glaze contains an excess of manganese oxide. Another specimen of glass consist of silicates of soda and lime and a metallic oxide for the colour. These were prepared by the fusion of an alkali, sand, saltpetre and chalk with a metallic oxide for the coloured varieties. This simple method was used to produce glaze. (MS-II, 686-88)
v1.c11.s13.5
From external examination, two faience objects, both from the DK Area, appeared to have been moulded from a crystalline, siliceous material like the faience of ancient Egypt. Hamid reports, that the body material of these two objects is steatite which has all the appearance of having been artificially crushed. The technique of moulding, glazing and firing in this particular case must have been essentially the same as in other faience objects. The relatively small production of water is significant, as it shows the effect of heat. Hamid's analysis is:
v1.c11.s13.6
| | Base per cent | Figure per cent |
| Silica | 57.99 | 57.23 |
| Oxide of iron and aluminium | 4.85 | 3.69 |
| Lime | 4.31 | 6.39 |
| Magnesia | 27.20 | 28.99 |
| Alkalies | 3.54 | 1.88 |
| Oxide of copper | 1.09 | 0.46 |
| Loss on ignition | 2.01 | 1.36 |
| | 100.99 | 100.00 |
v1.c11.s13.7
So from the above discussion it can be said that faience was extensively manufactured in the Indus Valley. Both in the lower and higher levels it has been found, and it is just as common at Harappa as it is at Mohenjo-Daro. As its manufacture is somewhat a elaborate process and requires great attention (first in the preparation of glaze, then in its application and finally in firing it in a muffle of kiln) so taking all these things into consideration, Marshall was of the opinion that the craft originated somewhere in the middle-East and then gradually spread over the ancient world. (MS-II, 576-80)