An astonishing development of glazed ware came at the beginning of the monarchy. A piece of a vase (fig. 116) with the name of Mena, the first king of Egypt, is of green glazed pottery, and it is surprising to find the royal name inlaid in a second coloured glaze, which has probably been violet, though now decomposed. Thus two-colour glazing in designs was used as early as 5500 B.C. And at this date glazing was not only a fine art, it was used on a large scale for the lining of rooms. Tiles have been found about a foot long, stoutly made, with dovetails on the back, and holes through them edgeways in order to tie them back to the wall with copper wire. They are glazed all over with hard blue-green glaze. The front is ribbed in imitation of reedwork, and they probably were copied from reed mats used to line the walls. Part of a tile has large hieroglyphs inlaid in colour, showing that decorative inscriptions were set up. Rather later, at the beginning of the IIIrd dynasty, there is the doorway of glazed tiles of King Zeser, with his name and titles in various colours; this doorway, now in Berlin, belonged to a room in the Step pyramid entirely lined with glazed tile. Smaller objects were also made in glaze. A tablet of the first dynasty bears a relief of the figure and titles of an aboriginal chief, apparently made to be left as a memorial of his visit to temples--a sort of visiting card,--as it was found in the temple of Abydos. Figures of women and animals were found with it, and glazed toggles to be used in place of buttons on garments. Very little glazing has been preserved to us from the pyramid age; there are small tablets with the name of King Pepy (4100 B.C.) in relief, but roughly done. The general colour of the early glaze is greenish-blue or blue-green, never distinctly of either colour. Such appears from the prehistoric age to the pyramid time. The glaze is full, and was not heated long enough to soak into the body. It often has pit-holes in it, and does not seem to have been very fluid. In the VIth dynasty a second colour appears, a dark indigo blue; this is on a scarab of Merenra, and on small toilet vases of the period. Some earlier scarabs are probably of the age of the IVth, and even of the IIIrd dynasty; these have a clear brilliant blue glaze, thin and well fused. In the XIIth dynasty the glaze is thin and hard. On ring-stands and vases it is often dry and of a greyish green. A rich clear blue glaze was also used, and is best seen on scarabs and on the favourite figures of hippopotami, which were only made in this period. The designs and inscriptions in the glaze were of a fine black, apparently coloured with manganese.