For transportation pots are strung together on a wood frame, packed in baskets or wrapped two or three together in matting bags and carried by donkey or camel. With the exception of the more decorative items, Yemeni pots are cheap and easily broken providing a steady market but low return for the potters. Many items of Yemeni domestic pottery have been replaced by mass-produced plastic, metal and cheap imported porcelain alternatives. To some extent these carry out the same functions as their predecessors, and are simply more durable substitutes. The decline in demand for certain traditional pottery wares also reflects recent social change in Yemen and the adoption of Western-style commodities and tastes.
Yemeni potters face an uncertain future.
The older generation and the poor in rural areas still use a large number of pottery items in the home, but with growing modernisation the demands for such wares may steadily decline. Fortunately the tourist inudstry has given the centuries-old craft, which has been declining since the early 1960s, a new lease of life. By Sarah Posey published by the British Museum Press.