Fish Shaped Cosmetic Palette

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodPredynastic, Nagada II

Date3500-3350 BCE

MediumPhyllite

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions6 1/8 x 3 1/16 x 3/8 in., 153 g (15.6 x 7.8 x 0.9 cm, 5 3/8 oz.)

Object number2018.010.371

Label TextStone cosmetic palettes were used to grind minerals for eyepaint. These palettes were usually buried with a grinding pebble and a bag of minerals like galena for black. Early palettes were geometric and later took animal form. Palettes in the form of a fish were the most common zoomorphic palette.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 62.

ProvenancePurchased by S.A.M. Sanousrit from Hotel des Ventes - Salle Cantini, Marseille, France, February 26, 1976, lot 35. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1976-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

Not on view

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