faience

faience [Ma].
Blue-coloured artificial glass-like material made from baked siliceous clay. Faience was used for the manufacture of a variety of ornaments and pieces of jewellery during prehistoric and later times. Beads of various shapes and sizes were used to form necklaces during the early Bronze Age in many parts of Europe. Faience was long believed to have been imported from the eastern Mediterranean, but there is now evidence to suggest that it was manufactured in Europe as well.