Palette

Painter’s Palette

This painter’s palette was carved from a single piece of ivory. Six oval wells contain cakes of pigments including blue, green, brown (?), yellow, red, and black. The oval cartouche at one end encircles the throne name of Amenhotep III, Neb-Ma’at-Re, and the epithet “beloved of Re.” This could mean the palette belonged to an...

The Libyan Palette

The Libyan Palette

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 (c. 3200 to 3000 BC). It was found at Abydos. The palette is decorated with intricate carvings and is believed...

The Battlefield Palette

The Battlefield Palette

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...

Two Dog Palette

The Two Dog Palette

The both sides of the two dog palette are carved in low relief with scenes depicting the frenzy o an animal hunt. The imagery includes real animals, such as the pair of Cape hunting dogs that frame the top (from which the palette takes its name). They dogs are shown alongside mythical creatures, including felines...

The Gerzeh Palette. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 43103

The Gerzeh Palette

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...

Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette

This significant palette commemorates the victories of King Narmer, who came from the south of Egypt to invade the Delta in about 3200-3000 BC. The palette was found along with the Narmer Macehead, another artifact which shows the completion of the conquest of the Lower Kingdom. It represents the most important evidence that the first...