An ellipsoid black-topped redware vessel with a chipped rim. It has a flat base, round body, and a direct rim slight lip. Made of Nile silt, the vessel is burnished on the outside, except for the base. This item is from grave 278 at Naqada. Naqada was excavated by Petrie, sponsored by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Such pots date to the Predynastic Naqada II Period (3500-3100BCE). Black-topped redware is a fine red pottery with a blackened rim. How such vessels were decorated has been much debated.

Hendrickx, S., Friedman, R. and Loyens, F. 2000. Experimental Archaeology concerning Black-topped red ware from Ancient Egypt and the Sudan. Cahiers de le Ceramique Egyptienne 6, 171-185. Petrie, W. M. Flinders and J. E. Quibell 1896. Naqada and Ballas: 1895. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account [1] (1st year). London: Bernard Quaritch. Smythe, J. 2005 Monuments in Mud, 'Nekhen News' 17, 21-23).