Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
POT'TERY. The potter's art was one of the first kinds of manufacture in Egyptian Potter and Pottery. which man became proficient. The Israelites worked at the trade while in Egypt, Ps 81:6; they used earthenware during their passage through the wilderness; and from the earliest time of their settlement in Canaan the trade was established among them. In Jerusalem there was a royal establishment of potters, 1 Chr 4:23, from which it has been
conjectured that the potter's field received its name. The method employed by the Israelites and often hinted at by the prophets seems to have been exactly the same as that employed by the Egyptians, such as we find it minutely illustrated by Egyptian wall-paintings. The clay was trodden by the feet into a uniform paste, Isa 41:25; Wisd. 16:7, and a sufficient mass was then placed by the potter on the wooden disc of the wheel. The wheel was
turned by the hand or worked by a treadle, Isa 45:9; Jer 18:3, but generally by an attendant, and not by the potter himself. When finished the vessel was coated with glaze and burnt in a furnace. Such vessels were used, however, not only for culinary purposes, but also as a means of preservation; from Jer 32:14 it appears that deeds were kept in them.