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.

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)

Battlefield Palette "Two-bird heads palette (Brooklyn)"[5] "Bird palette (Louvre no XXX)" (bird-resting, on its feet)[6] Double-Bird Palette, ("Anchor Palette") Bull Palette El Ahaiwah Dog Palette Four Dogs Palette, Giraffes Palette Oxford Palette Minor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette "Fish palette (Louvre dolphin type)"[7] New Kingdom: Fish-shaped palette-(Bulti-hieroglyph type); Adorned fish side/ with cosmetic side for daily use.[8]

Gerzeh Palette Barbary Goat Palette Trussed-Goose Palette Guinea Fowl Palette Hunters Palette "Ka Palette (no. 1)" "Ka Palette (no. 2)" Libyan Palette Manshiyat Ezzat Palette Min Antelope Palette Min Palette Narmer Palette "Turtle palette (no. 1)"-(Louvre) (See zoomorphic palette) Turtle Palette no. 2[9]

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	–	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)		Egyptian Museum, Cairo		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 two serpopards, necks framing a mixing circle, and necks in wave-motion-(3-cycles); both serpopards 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

Zoomorphic gallery

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

Miscellaneous pallettes

• 
  Battlefield Palette
• 
  Four Dogs Palette
• 
  Hunters Palette
• 
  Plover palette

See also

• Cosmetic palette
• Zoomorphic palette
• Gardiner's Sign List

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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric 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.{{cite book}}: 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric 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, "Museum Gustavianum - the Victoria Museum of Egyptian Antiquities". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
9. Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Turtle Palette, (circular, small appendages) p 18.
10. "Museum of Antiquities | Narmer Palette (Egyptian)". www.usask.ca. Archived from the original on 2010-02-28.
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).

External links

• Corpus of Egyptian Late Predynastic Palettes by Francesco Raffaele