Palette

'Perm used to refer to two distinct artefacts: cosmetic and scribal palettes.

Cosmetic/ceremonial palettes., usually of silt-stone (greywacke), have been found in the form of grave goods in cemeteries as early as the Badarian period (c.550()-400() bc). They were used to grind pigments such as malachite or galena, from which eye-paint w'as made.

'file earliest examples were simply rectangular in shape, but b the Naqada I period (c.401)0-3500 liC) they were generally carved into more elaborate geometric forms - including a rhomboid which resembles the symbol of the later fertility-god MIN - or the schematic silhouettes of animals such as hippopotami and turtles (sometimes with inlaid eyes). By this lime cosmetic palettes had almost certainly acquired ritualistic or magical connotations. In the N'aqada ii period (r.3500-3100 uc) the

Sci'ilnilpalette imerihed with the titles of. lln/iose I It has depressions for two cakes of pigment and a slot for the reed pens. IHth Dynasty, wood.

It 28 cm. (ea12784) preferred shapes tended to be the forms of fish or birds, rather than animals, and many were shield-shaped, with two birds' heads at the top. By the terminal Prcdynastic period the range of shapes of the smaller cosmetic palettes had become considerably reduced, but simultaneously a new and more elaborate ceremonial form began to be produced. These palettes (usually oval or shield-shaped) were employed as votive items in temples rather than as grave goods, and a large number were found in the form of a cache in the Early Dy nastic temple at iih'RAROnpolls. They were carved w ith reliefs depicting the ideology and rituals of the emerging elite, and the quintessential surviving example is the ‘Narmer palette’ (now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo; sec nar.u;r for illustration).

Scribal palettes generally consisted of long rectangular pieces of wood or stone (averaging 30 cm long and 6 cm w ide), each with a shallow central groove or slot to hold the reed brushes or pens and one or two circular depressions at one end, to hold cakes of pigment. The hieroglyph used as the determinative for the words ‘scribf’ and ‘writing’ con-.sisted of a set of scribe's equipment, including a shorter version of the palette.

J. E. Qi mwi.. Archaic objects, 2 vols (Cairo, 1904-5).

A. Eu(iKBRi:t;iiT et al., Das alle Agypten (A'limich, 1984), 347-63.

.l. Sai. kh and H. Sol rouzian, Egyptian Museum, Cairo: official catalogue {W. aAiy., 1987), cat. nos 7-8, 233.

A. j. Spr. Ncr. R, Early Egypt (London, 1994), 29-31,51-8.