Abstract
It is well known that people in Deir el-Medina engaged in the construction and decoration of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Thousands of hieratic texts from the site revealed the social history, economy, and organization from the Nineteenth to Twentieth Dynasties. However, Deir el-Medina in the Eighteenth Dynasty has not yet been well studied due to the dearth of the inscriptions. This paper aims to examine the painted pottery imitating stone or glass vessels in order to discuss artisans' painting techniques at Deir el-Medina in the late Eighteenth Dynasty.
The painted pottery imitating stone or glass vessels is characteristic of Theban funerary assemblages in the late Eighteenth Dynasty. Vessels from Theban tombs (excluding Deir el-Medina) are supposedly decorated by artisans who painted Theban tomb walls—given the close connections between the stone or glass vessels represented in tomb paintings and the decorative style on the actual painted pottery. On the other hand, the examples from Deir el-Medina were decorated by artisans within Deir el-Medina itself because the decorative motifs are very unique and do not occur at other contemporary sites in the Theban necropolis. Therefore, comparative studies shed new light on the artisan's painting techniques at Deir el-Medina.
As a result, it was possible to discern difference in the motifs, painting techniques and productive skills between the two areas. The quality of the painted pottery imitating stone or glass vessels from Deir el-Medina is inferior to those from the Theban tombs. Only simple decoration such as dots or lines is executed; Deir el Medina painted pottery also does not exhibit a white slip background or varnish coating.
To conclude, it is deduced that the artisans in Deir el-Medina did not have the same highly developed painting techniques compared to the artisans who decorated the Theban tombs.
