The piece is now ready for its decoration. This is the design shown in Fig. 35. The circumference of the top of the bowl is divided into fifths, and marks are made in pencil half an inch below the rim. Just below each of these marks the design is drawn, placing it so that if a line were drawn straight down from the pencil mark, one of the oval figures would be on each side of it. The centre of the design is pierced, as indicated in Fig. 35, by the method described in Chapter IV., and a deep incised line surrounds it.
A pale green mat-glaze (see Chapter V.) completes the bowl.
The Making of a Tile
CHAPTER VIII
THE MAKING OF A TILE
The ancient Egyptians were probably the first tile-makers. Some of their most remarkable pieces of enamel work are clay plaques or slabs, made as early as 1300 B. C. Figures of men and animals were drawn upon them, modelled in low relief, and coated with enamels, brilliant and beautiful in colour.