The Crystal Tones Egyptian Series® was inspired by this Quartz Faience Bowl from the 13th Dynasty Egypt - (1,700 B.C.E. - nearly 4,000 years old!). Faience is the oldest artificial substance, first made in Egypt 5,500 years ago, a millennium before glass was invented. It has a core of powdered quartz particles that are fused to each other with heat (much like the crystal singing bowls of today). Over the core is a glaze, applied in one of several different ways.