Egyptian blue - part 2, cobalt

Pottery at the Ashmolean Museum - Aakheperure 2016

Some of you might remember me posting about "Egyptian blue" - the first known artificial pigment. The blue on the pots in this cabinet at the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford) gets its colour from a different substance: cobalt.
You can see it's a very light grey-blue. This type of pottery/decoration was very popular in the New Kingdom, particularly during the Amarna period and is sometimes known as Malkata ware, after the palace of Amenhotep III on the West Bank at Thebes which had many Royal workshops.
Malkata ware is typically decorated with floral designs that were painted on prior to firing. The pot in the middle is the largest example of this kind of pottery I have ever seen!