Her tour through the decades spotlights meaningful books she has read and introduces six prized possessions, including the title's ammonites-and-dancing-fish
potshard from Cairo, where she spent her childhood.
This triangle looks like a
potshard: up close, its brownish-orange tones separate into layers.
Anyone who would like to find out more about raising money for
Potshard should call Mrs Greaves on 0121 743 4133.
Mike Hoolboom's voice on the answering machine, delivering another
potshard, a find from his dig:
The coils are pinched together and smoothed with a tool such as a piece of gourd or a
potshard. Slip (clay thinned with water) is painted on the surface of the newly formed, dried pot.
Early potters developed the coil and scrape method, coiling long loops of clay, then scraping the surface with a small stone or
potshard until it had a smooth surface and the desired shape.
Acquisitiveness, not just in money and property but in specimens of every kind, from butterflies to fossils, was almost universal, and the comfortable rectories and purpose-built villas in which the families lived were crammed with books and cases of stuffed birds, animals, rocks, and
potshards, their spacious gardens often containing exotic trees and shrubs, servants of all kinds, and children of all ages.
Archaeological evidence, including
potshards, indicates Rashaya al-Foukhar has been producing pottery for thousands of years.