Glossary Pottery and vessels
Incised decoration
Also called: incision
Lines or patterns cut into a surface with a sharp point; on pottery this is usually done before firing, while the clay is still soft.
Incision was the main way of decorating pottery in Early Bronze Age Cyprus, before painted wares took over. The potter drew into the leather-hard clay with a point, a blade or a comb, and the lines were often filled with white to make them stand out.
Red Polished pottery carries the richest incised decoration, with zigzags, chevrons, bands of lozenges and concentric circles covering jugs, bowls and figurines. Middle Cypriot Black Slip juglets were incised with parallel lines and network, and the Neolithic Combed ware was decorated with a related technique, dragging a many-toothed tool through a painted surface.
Related terms
- White-filled
Incised or impressed decoration packed with a white paste, so that the pattern shows up pale against a dark or red surface.
- Leather-hard
The stage in drying when clay is firm enough to hold its shape but still damp enough to be trimmed, joined, incised or burnished.
- Relief decoration
Raised decoration on a pot, made by adding strips, pellets or modelled figures of clay to the surface or by pinching the wall outwards.