Large quantities of colourful glazed tiles made from ground quartz were used to decorate Ramses’ palaces. Five examples are shown in this display case.
The top two are tiles from a frieze and each show two birds in profile sitting one behind the other. The birds in one tile face to the right and in the other they face the opposite way. Each of the lapwing birds sits on its tail with a leg in front, its wings extended behind and a human-looking arm with a bent elbow projecting- from the bird’s chest.
The area surface of each tile is that of a contemporary brick and the pale pink birds are raised from the blue background. Below the birds is a large tile showing a perch swimming through water. This tile is half as big again as the bird tiles and does not have the colour and lustre of the birds. It is red-brown and the fish is painted on in dark ink with careful detail showing scales, fins and tail.
The fish’s head is at the right-hand edge of the tile and just in front of it is drawn the outline of a lotus flower. A few chips of the tile are missing around the edges.
The last two tiles are very interesting. They flank the other tiles in the display case and each one is a representation of a prisoner. While the previous tiles are run horizontally, these run vertically and measure about the length of a forearm and the width of a hand span. The tile on the left is of an Asian captive.
The body of the man fills the surface of the tile. The detail is extraordinary. The body faces the front but the head with its dark skin and black beard is in profile and there is a rope tied around the man’s neck. He wears a short-sleeved top patterned in red, blue and cream and a long straight skirt to the ground, and the skirt is also patterned in red, blue and cream.
He wears bracelets and a necklace and the figure is raised from the background. The prisoner on the right of the display is also an Asian captive. This tile is slightly shorter and the man stands in profile looking to the left. He is clean-shaven, has long black hair falling behind his shoulder and a pale green brimless hat on his head.
He wears above the knee shorts and a long-draped cloth tied beneath his arms and open in the front. The clothes are made of fabric symmetrically patterned in brown and cream. His feet are bare and he too has a rope around his neck. The tiles representing prisoners were laid on the floor of Ramses’ palace so that he could literally walk over his enemies.