The Libyan palette also known as Tehenu palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and hieroglyphic writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt (ca. 3200-3000 BC). It was found at Abydos. The iconographic rendition of the animals that march in file shows a...
Breccia cosmetic-vessel, theriomorphic, representing a frog, eyes originally inlaid, pierced lug handles and everted rim. These vessels were commonly used in ancient Egypt during the Predynastic period, which refers to the time before the establishment of the 1st Dynasty. These vessels were made from breccia, a type of rock composed of fragments of different minerals...
This figure of a woman in a shawl is dated between 3100 -2700 B.C. She stands 13.5cm high, and is a finely carved from a piece of Hippopotamus ivory. Hippopotamus ivory is harder than elephant ivory and is much more difficult to carve. The woman depicted, with hair parted in the middle, stares forth with...
This polished black basalt figure of a man wearing a hood and penis sheath was once in the collection of the Rev William MacGregor, and is said to have been found in the region of Naqada. Standing man, arms by sides with hands open, palms in, legs together. Details of eyes, eyebrows, and mouth clearly...
The Battlefield Palette is decorated on both faces with scenes in low relief. On one face, two long-necked gazelles (gerenuk) are browsing on a central date-palm. Behind the head of one animal (on the Oxford fragment) is a bird with a hooked beak, possibly a form of guinea-fowl. The lower half of a palette of...
This Naqada jar is an artifact from Predynastic Period, the earliest period in Egyptian history. The pot was created during what is known as the Naqada II period (3500-3200 BC), long before the pyramids were built. This pot was probably made without use of a pottery wheel. The potter most likely pressed the damp clay...
An early example from Predynastic Egypt, is a ceramic model of a boat with a man in a fetal position, sailing to the afterlife where he will be reborn. Belief in a physical afterlife endured for thousands of years. This totemic item from predynastic Egypt shows the deceased curled up in the fetal position in...
This flared bowl with crocodiles and a flattened rim is typical of the pottery production of the early Predynastic Period. Generally characterized by the red coloring of the surfaces, decoration consists of geometric motifs or stylized plants or animals rendered by means of rapid brushstrokes in white paint. On the outside of this particular vessel,...
A group of five stars depicted on the Gerzeh Palette or Hathor palette dating back to Naqada II Period. This unusual schist palette was part of a Predynastic funerary assemblage which also contained ordinary vessels. It has an oval shape that widens slightly towards the top and it is pierced so that it could be...
