List of ancient Egyptian palettes
Encyclopedia
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s, ranging in the Naqada
Naqada
Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.Naqada comprises...
periods, 4th millennium BC, probably mostly from ~3500 to 3000 BC; some palettes may be from the later period of the earliest 3rd millennium BC.
These cosmetic palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s come in numerous shapes and sizes, and were often found in tombs or graves. They were preceded by a period of palettes called rhomboidal palettes, unadorned, and without the cosmetic mixing circle found on some of the later Naqada period palettes.
Alphabetical individual listing, (abbreviated)
- Battlefield PaletteBattlefield PaletteThe Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
- "Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)" - "Bird palette (Louvre no XXX)"
(bird-resting, on its feet) - Double-Bird Palette, ("Anchor Palette")
- Bull PaletteBull PaletteThe Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
- El Ahaiwah Dog Palette
- Four Dogs Palette, Giraffes Palette
- Oxford Palette
Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette - "Fish palette (Louvre dolphin type)"
- New Kingdom: Fish-shaped palette-(Bulti-hieroglyph type); Adorned fish side/ with cosmetic side for daily use.
- Gerzeh Palette
- Barbary Goat Palette
- Trussed-Goose Palette
- Guinea Fowl Palette
- Hunters PaletteHunters PaletteThe Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
- "Ka Palette (no. 1)"
- "Ka Palette (no. 2)"
- Libyan PaletteLibyan PaletteThe Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
- Manshiyat Ezzat PaletteManshiyat Ezzat PaletteThe Manshiyat Ezzat Palette is an ornately adorned schist cosmetic palette from predynastic Egypt found at a cemetery in the eastern Delta town of Manshiyat Ezzat, Dakahlia Governorate. The gravesite is from Pharaoh Den's reign, 1st Dynasty. The palette is of low to moderate bas relief...
- Min Atnelope Palette
- Min PaletteMin PaletteThe Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
- Narmer PaletteNarmer PaletteThe Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
- "Turtle palette (no. 1)"-(Louvre)
(See zoomorphic paletteZoomorphic paletteThe Zoomorphic palette is a type of Cosmetic palette made during the predynastic period of Egypt. The palettes are found at burial sites, for example Abydos in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.-Overview:...
) - Turtle Palette no. 2
List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes
| Name | Dimensions | Location | Notes + Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield Palette Battlefield Palette The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt... Vultures Palette, etc |
Full Height? 50 x 32 cm-(?) (20 x 13 in) |
British Museum | Side A: war; Side B: peace ('Order vs Chaos') |
| Bull Palette Bull Palette The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC.... |
– | Louvre | |
| Gerzeh Palette | – | Egyptian Museum, Cairo | |
| Hunters Palette Hunters Palette The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals... |
30.5 x 15 cm (12 x 6 in) |
British Museum | (smaller fragment in Louvre) |
| Libyan Palette Libyan Palette The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt... |
(original, approximated: 70 x 25 cm) (ht x width) |
Egyptian Museum, Cairo | (surviving dimensions: ~18.5 x ~21 cm, (7 x 8 in)) (ht x width) |
| Min Palette Min Palette The Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:... El Amrah Amratian Amratian, or Naqada I, is an era during Predynastic Egypt that lasted from c.4000-3500 BCE.See:*Amratian culture*Naqada*Predynastic Egypt... Palette |
– | ||
| Narmer Palette Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of... Great Hierakonpolis Palette |
64 x 42 cm (25 x 17 in) |
Louvre | Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper Upper Egypt Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt... and Lower Egypt Lower Egypt Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea.... ) |
Shield-shape palettes
A list of shield-shaped palettes; the majority are vertically oriented. (The Hunters PaletteHunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
is an example of a horizontally-oriented palette.)
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1
|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!<-->
Form
!Notes + Topic
|-
|"Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)"
|22.5 x 11.8 cm
(8.8 x 4.6 in)
|Brooklyn Museum, USA
|
|Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-Heads
|-
|Four Dogs Palette
Giraffes Palette
Louvre Palette
|–
|Louvre
|
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s, ranging in the Naqada
Naqada
Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.Naqada comprises...
periods, 4th millennium BC, probably mostly from ~3500 to 3000 BC; some palettes may be from the later period of the earliest 3rd millennium BC.
These cosmetic palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s come in numerous shapes and sizes, and were often found in tombs or graves. They were preceded by a period of palettes called rhomboidal palettes, unadorned, and without the cosmetic mixing circle found on some of the later Naqada period palettes.
Alphabetical individual listing, (abbreviated)
- Battlefield PaletteBattlefield PaletteThe Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
- "Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)" - "Bird palette (Louvre no XXX)"
(bird-resting, on its feet) - Double-Bird Palette, ("Anchor Palette")
- Bull PaletteBull PaletteThe Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
- El Ahaiwah Dog Palette
- Four Dogs Palette, Giraffes Palette
- Oxford Palette
Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette - "Fish palette (Louvre dolphin type)"
- New Kingdom: Fish-shaped palette-(Bulti-hieroglyph type); Adorned fish side/ with cosmetic side for daily use.
- Gerzeh Palette
- Barbary Goat Palette
- Trussed-Goose Palette
- Guinea Fowl Palette
- Hunters PaletteHunters PaletteThe Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
- "Ka Palette (no. 1)"
- "Ka Palette (no. 2)"
- Libyan PaletteLibyan PaletteThe Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
- Manshiyat Ezzat PaletteManshiyat Ezzat PaletteThe Manshiyat Ezzat Palette is an ornately adorned schist cosmetic palette from predynastic Egypt found at a cemetery in the eastern Delta town of Manshiyat Ezzat, Dakahlia Governorate. The gravesite is from Pharaoh Den's reign, 1st Dynasty. The palette is of low to moderate bas relief...
- Min Atnelope Palette
- Min PaletteMin PaletteThe Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
- Narmer PaletteNarmer PaletteThe Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
- "Turtle palette (no. 1)"-(Louvre)
(See zoomorphic paletteZoomorphic paletteThe Zoomorphic palette is a type of Cosmetic palette made during the predynastic period of Egypt. The palettes are found at burial sites, for example Abydos in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.-Overview:...
) - Turtle Palette no. 2
List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!Notes + Topic
|-
|Battlefield Palette
Battlefield Palette
The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
Vultures Palette, etc
|Full Height?
50 x 32 cm-(?)
(20 x 13 in)
|British Museum
|Side A: war; Side B: peace
('Order vs Chaos')
|-
|Bull Palette
Bull Palette
The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
|–
|Louvre
|
|-
|Gerzeh Palette
|–
|Egyptian Museum, Cairo
|
|-
|Hunters Palette
Hunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
|30.5 x 15 cm
(12 x 6 in)
|British Museum
|(smaller fragment in Louvre)
|-
|Libyan Palette
Libyan Palette
The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
|(original, approximated:
70 x 25 cm)
(ht x width)
|Egyptian Museum, Cairo
|(surviving dimensions:
~18.5 x ~21 cm,
(7 x 8 in))
(ht x width)
|-
|Min Palette
Min Palette
The Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
El Amrah
Amratian
Amratian, or Naqada I, is an era during Predynastic Egypt that lasted from c.4000-3500 BCE.See:*Amratian culture*Naqada*Predynastic Egypt...
Palette
|–
|
|
|-
|Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
Great Hierakonpolis Palette
|64 x 42 cm
(25 x 17 in)
|Louvre
|Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
and Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
)
|-
|}
Shield-shape palettes
A list of shield-shaped palettes; the majority are vertically oriented. (The Hunters PaletteHunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
is an example of a horizontally-oriented palette.)
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1
|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!<-->
Form
!Notes + Topic
|-
|"Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)"
|22.5 x 11.8 cm
(8.8 x 4.6 in)
|Brooklyn Museum, USA
|
|Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-Heads
|-
|Four Dogs Palette
Giraffes Palette
Louvre Palette
|–
|Louvre
|
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s, ranging in the Naqada
Naqada
Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.Naqada comprises...
periods, 4th millennium BC, probably mostly from ~3500 to 3000 BC; some palettes may be from the later period of the earliest 3rd millennium BC.
These cosmetic palette
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
s come in numerous shapes and sizes, and were often found in tombs or graves. They were preceded by a period of palettes called rhomboidal palettes, unadorned, and without the cosmetic mixing circle found on some of the later Naqada period palettes.
Alphabetical individual listing, (abbreviated)
- Battlefield PaletteBattlefield PaletteThe Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
- "Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)" - "Bird palette (Louvre no XXX)"
(bird-resting, on its feet) - Double-Bird Palette, ("Anchor Palette")
- Bull PaletteBull PaletteThe Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
- El Ahaiwah Dog Palette
- Four Dogs Palette, Giraffes Palette
- Oxford Palette
Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette - "Fish palette (Louvre dolphin type)"
- New Kingdom: Fish-shaped palette-(Bulti-hieroglyph type); Adorned fish side/ with cosmetic side for daily use.
- Gerzeh Palette
- Barbary Goat Palette
- Trussed-Goose Palette
- Guinea Fowl Palette
- Hunters PaletteHunters PaletteThe Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
- "Ka Palette (no. 1)"
- "Ka Palette (no. 2)"
- Libyan PaletteLibyan PaletteThe Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
- Manshiyat Ezzat PaletteManshiyat Ezzat PaletteThe Manshiyat Ezzat Palette is an ornately adorned schist cosmetic palette from predynastic Egypt found at a cemetery in the eastern Delta town of Manshiyat Ezzat, Dakahlia Governorate. The gravesite is from Pharaoh Den's reign, 1st Dynasty. The palette is of low to moderate bas relief...
- Min Atnelope Palette
- Min PaletteMin PaletteThe Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
- Narmer PaletteNarmer PaletteThe Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
- "Turtle palette (no. 1)"-(Louvre)
(See zoomorphic paletteZoomorphic paletteThe Zoomorphic palette is a type of Cosmetic palette made during the predynastic period of Egypt. The palettes are found at burial sites, for example Abydos in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.-Overview:...
) - Turtle Palette no. 2
List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!Notes + Topic
|-
|Battlefield Palette
Battlefield Palette
The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
Vultures Palette, etc
|Full Height?
50 x 32 cm-(?)
(20 x 13 in)
|British Museum
|Side A: war; Side B: peace
('Order vs Chaos')
|-
|Bull Palette
Bull Palette
The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
|–
|Louvre
|
|-
|Gerzeh Palette
|–
|Egyptian Museum, Cairo
|
|-
|Hunters Palette
Hunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
|30.5 x 15 cm
(12 x 6 in)
|British Museum
|(smaller fragment in Louvre)
|-
|Libyan Palette
Libyan Palette
The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
|(original, approximated:
70 x 25 cm)
(ht x width)
|Egyptian Museum, Cairo
|(surviving dimensions:
~18.5 x ~21 cm,
(7 x 8 in))
(ht x width)
|-
|Min Palette
Min Palette
The Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
El Amrah
Amratian
Amratian, or Naqada I, is an era during Predynastic Egypt that lasted from c.4000-3500 BCE.See:*Amratian culture*Naqada*Predynastic Egypt...
Palette
|–
|
|
|-
|Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
Great Hierakonpolis Palette
|64 x 42 cm
(25 x 17 in)
|Louvre
|Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
and Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
)
|-
|}
Shield-shape palettes
A list of shield-shaped palettes; the majority are vertically oriented. (The Hunters PaletteHunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
is an example of a horizontally-oriented palette.)
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1
|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!<-->
Form
!Notes + Topic
|-
|"Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)"
|22.5 x 11.8 cm
(8.8 x 4.6 in)
|Brooklyn Museum, USA
|
|Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-Heads
|-
|Four Dogs Palette
Giraffes Palette
Louvre Palette
|–
|Louvre
|
|Obverse:Four canines and other animals, w/cosmetic circle
|-
|"Duck, trussed"
Trussed-Goose Palette-
|–
|British Museum
|
|
|-
|Hunters Palette
Hunters Palette
The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
|(horizontally– –oriented)
30.5 x 15 cm
(12 x 6 in)
|British Museum
|
||(smaller fragment in Louvre)
|-
|Manshiyet el Ezzat Palette
Manshiyat Ezzat Palette
The Manshiyat Ezzat Palette is an ornately adorned schist cosmetic palette from predynastic Egypt found at a cemetery in the eastern Delta town of Manshiyat Ezzat, Dakahlia Governorate. The gravesite is from Pharaoh Den's reign, 1st Dynasty. The palette is of low to moderate bas relief...
|(Broken top)
23.5 to 27 x 12 cm,
(9-10 x 5 in)
(ht x width)
|
|
|Discovered in a tomb, dated to Pharaoh Den
Den
Den may refer to:*Den , a part of a house similar to the living room: a den is about the size of a living room, but smaller than a family room*Den , a Ukrainian newspaper*Den , a Pharaoh of Egypt...
's reign
Cosmetic Circle: two confronted lions with intertwined necks, (as on the Narmer Palette).
|-
|Min Palette
Min Palette
The Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
El Amrah
Amratian
Amratian, or Naqada I, is an era during Predynastic Egypt that lasted from c.4000-3500 BCE.See:*Amratian culture*Naqada*Predynastic Egypt...
Palette
|–
|
|
|The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"–
(1/4 of palette face)
|-
|Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
Great Hierakonpolis Palette
|64 x 42 cm
(25 x 17 in)
|Louvre
|
|Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
and Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
)
|-
|Oxford Palette
Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette
'Ashmolean Palette'
|42 x 22 cm
(17 x 9 in)
|Ashmolean Museum, no. E3294
|
|greywacke, ca. 3150 BC
2-Lions, necks framing a mixing circle, and necks in wave-motion-(3-cycles); both lions are licking a gazelle, (as a newborn, or young)
|-
|}
Zoomorphic palettes
A list of zoomorphic, or animal styleAnimal style
Animal style art is characterized by its emphasis on animal and bird motifs, and the term describes an approach to decoration which existed from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period...
Egyptian palettes.
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1
|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!Notes + Topic
|-
|"Anchor Palette"
("Double Bird (Pelta) Palette")
|–
|Pelta?
|Anchor-shaped, double outward facing bird-heads
|-
|Bird (Louvre)
(a goose)
|–
|Louvre
|Naqada IId-IIIc
|-
|"El Ahaiwah Dog Palette"
|–
|
|from El Ahaiwah- (El Ahaiwah)
|-
|"Duck, trussed"
Trussed-Goose Palette-
|–
|British Museum
|portrayed later in hieroglyphs as G54, a 'trussed goose'
|-
|Elephant palette
|(length-(horizontal):
~20.5 cm, (~8 in)
|Egyptian Museum, Berlin
|
|-
|Geese Palette
|(broken palette)
14.5 x 11.5 cm
(6 x 5 in)
|British Museum, 32074
|schist
remainder piece has large, entire cosmetic circle, 2 small confronted geese below
|-
|Barbary Goat palette
|–
|British Museum
|
|-
|Turtle Palette
{circular)
|–
|Louvre
|Circular shape
with small turtle appendages
|-
|Turtle Palette no. 2
{circular)
|–
|Egyptian Museum, Berlin
|Circular shape
with small turtle appendages
|-
|}
Bird palettes
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!<-->
Form
!Notes + Topic
|-
|Bird (Louvre)
(a goose)
|–
|Louvre
|
|Naqada IId-IIIc
goose, seated-(at rest)
|-
|"Duck, trussed"
Trussed-Goose
Palette-
|–
|British Museum
|
|
|-
|"Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)"
|22.5 x 11.8 cm
(8.8 x 4.6 in)
|Brooklyn Museum, USA
|
|Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-Heads
|-
|Guinea Fowl Palette
|28.5 x 19 cm
(11.3 x 7.5 in)
|Brooklyn Museum, USA
|?
|Guinea Fowl shape, Naqada II, (with small inlaid white eye)
|-
|}
Miscellaneous palettes, fragments
{| cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 border=1|- bgcolor="#ececec" style="text-align:center;"
!Name
!Dimensions
!Location
!<-->
Form
!Notes + Topic
|-
|Min Antelope Palette
|–
|
|
|(Naqada IId-IIIc)
circular with suspension hole, inscribed with antelope, 1/3 of face
|-
|"Ka Palette (no. 1)"
|–
|?
|
|
Ka hieroglyph-shaped plate
large vertical offering-style plate (see the Hotep
Hotep
The Egyptian word Hotep translates to roughly "to be satisfied, at peace". It is regularly found in the names of ancient Egyptian figures such as Hotepsekhemwy , the first ruler of Egypt's Second Dynasty....
-style plates, and the Ancient Egyptian offering formula)
|-
|"Ka Palette (no. 2)"
|–
|?
|
|
Ka hieroglyph-shaped plate
plus Ankh
Ankh
The ankh , also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ʻ-n-ḫ...
, Papyrus
Papyrus stem (hieroglyph)
The ancient Egyptian papyrus stem hieroglyph is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. Along with the hieroglyph for the Papyrus clump, a symbol of the Nile god Hapy, it is one of the foundation hieroglyphs at the core of the history of Ancient Egypt...
, and U3S
Was
The was sceptre is a symbol that appeared often in relics, art and hieroglyphics associated with the ancient Egyptian religion...
-staff
|-
|}
Egyptian hieroglyphs and the palette's corpus
A list of the Egyptian hieroglyphsEgyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
and the individual palettes.
Gerzeh Palette
The Gerzeh Palette, or "Hathor Palette", "Cow-Head Palette" has topics containing 5-stars, a pair of horns, and a stylized "head". The hieroglyphs are: N14 , F13 , and possibly a relation to Y8 , Hathor-sistrum, (the shape of the cow's head, as on the Narmer Palette
), andR20
.Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
), and
Min PaletteMin PaletteThe Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"--R23 with the hieroglyph for "crook-staff"--S39
(1/4 of palette face)
(1/4 of palette face)
External links
