List of ancient Egyptian palettes

A list of a small subset[1][2][3][4] of ancient Egyptian palettes, ranging in the Naqada 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.

The Four Dogs Palette, Room 633 of the Louvre.

These cosmetic palettes 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)

List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes
Name Dimensions Image Location Notes + Topic
Battlefield Palette
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 – Louvre
Gerzeh Palette –
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Hunters Palette 30.5 x 15 cm
(12 x 6 in)		 British Museum (smaller fragment in Louvre)
Libyan Palette (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
El Amrah Palette		 –
Narmer Palette
Great Hierakonpolis Palette		 64 x 42 cm
(25 x 17 in)		 Egyptian Museum in Cairo[10] Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper and Lower Egypt)

Shield-shape palettes

A list of shield-shaped palettes; the majority are vertically oriented. (The Hunters Palette is an example of a horizontally-oriented palette.)

Name Dimensions Image Location <-->
Form		 Notes + Topic
"Two-bird heads
palette (Brooklyn)"[11]		 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 (horizontally– –oriented)
30.5 x 15 cm
(12 x 6 in)		 British Museum
(smaller fragment in Louvre)
Manshiyet el Ezzat Palette (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's reign
Cosmetic Circle: two confronted lions with intertwined necks, (as on the Narmer Palette).
Min Palette
El Amrah Palette		 –
The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"–
with the hieroglyph for "crook-staff"–

(1/4 of palette face)
Narmer Palette
Great Hierakonpolis Palette		 64 x 42 cm
(25 x 17 in)		 Louvre
Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper and Lower Egypt)
Oxford Palette
Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette
"Ashmolean Palette"
"Two Dog Palette"[12]		 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)[13]

Zoomorphic palettes

A list of zoomorphic, or animal style Egyptian palettes.

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)[14]		 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[15]
{circular)		 – Egyptian Museum, Berlin Circular shape
with small turtle appendages

Bird palettes
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)"[16]		 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[17] 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
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-style plates, and the Ancient Egyptian offering formula)[18]
"Ka Palette (no. 2)" – ?
,
Ka hieroglyph-shaped plate
plus Ankh, Papyrus, and U3S-staff
,
,

Egyptian hieroglyphs and the palette's corpus

A list of the Egyptian hieroglyphs 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:

,

, and possibly a relation to

, Hathor-sistrum, (the shape of the cow's head, as on the Narmer Palette), and

.

Min Palette

The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"--

with the hieroglyph for "crook-staff"--


(1/4 of palette face).

Galleries
  • Bird - (non-typical, sitting Goose-(duck))
  • Fish-(Dolphin-shape)
  • Hippopotamus
  • Turtle

Miscellaneous pallettes

See also

References
  1. Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), 1853-1942. (1920). Prehistoric Egypt illustrated by over 1,000 objects in University college, London. British School of Archaeology in Egypt. OCLC 603232901.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Ciałowicz, Krzysztof, M. (1991). Les palettes égyptiennes aux motifs zoomorphes et sans dećoration : études de l'art pred́ynastique. Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński. ISBN 8323304963. OCLC 38471972.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), 1853-1942. (1921). Corpus of prehistoric pottery and palettes. British school of archaeology in Egypt. OCLC 603232953.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Patenaude, Julie. (2011). A catalogue of Egyptian cosmetic palettes in the Manchester University Museum collection. Shaw, Garry J. [London]: Golden House Publications. ISBN 9781906137205. OCLC 791471887.
  5. 2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum
  6. Wikimedia Commons: Bird-resting, (on its feet)
  7. Wikimedia Commons: Fish, (dolphin-type), Louvre
  8. Vicroria Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Bulti Fish-shaped cosmetic palette, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Turtle Palette, (circular, small appendages) p 18.
  10. https://www.usask.ca/antiquities/collection/egyptian/narmer.html
  11. 2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum
  12. Patch, Diana (29 May 2012). Dawn of Egyptian Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 139. ISBN 978-0300179521. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  13. Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, "Ceremonial palette, Hierakonpolis", p 27.
  14. Schulz, Seidel, Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Chapter 1, Egypt's Path to Advanced Civilization, p. 18, 3 palettes of: 1-elephant, 2-hippopotamus, 3-turtle.
  15. Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Turtle Palette, (circular, small appendages) p 18.
  16. 2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum
  17. Guinea Fowl Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum
  18. Wikimedia Commons, Hotep offering tables
  • Schulz, Regine; Seidel, Matthias eds.; Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, (w/ 34 contributing Authors), Konemann, Germany, c 1998, (538 pp), (hardcover, ISBN 3-89508-913-3).
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