[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Earthen-ware Vessels found at Thebes.] UNGLAZED POTTERY.--This may again be divided into the unbaked, or sun-dried, and baked. Of these the former is unquestionably the more ancient, and Egypt is one of the three countries whose sun-dried pottery has lasted until the present time. Unbaked bricks are the oldest examples. Some of those discovered recall the bondage and wrongs of the Israelites under the “new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.” The command of Pharaoh will be remembered: “Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.” The straw was used to bind them together. They were moulded generally in a rectangular shape, and were extensively used in the construction of pyramids of various ages. They vary in size in different edifices, and are marked according to their composition or destined use. In the former case, the marks were used merely to distinguish the quality; in the latter, the marks indicate either the individual’s tomb in the construction of which they were to be employed, or the king in whose reign they were made for public buildings. The whole process can be studied in the engraving (Fig. 30). The stamp for bricks was not used until the fifteenth century before the Christian era. The vessels of unbaked clay which have been preserved are few in number, and are either religious in character, or devoted to sepulchral uses. The ornamentation is of the simplest kind. [Illustration: Fig. 34.--Red Pottery Cone. (Trumbull-Prime Coll., N. Y. Metropolitan Museum.)] [Illustration: Fig. 35.--Fish-shaped Vase of Red Terra-cotta. Egyptian. (British Museum.)]