Comb

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureCoptic

PeriodRoman Period-Coptic Period

Datelate 2nd - early 7th Century CE

MediumWood

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions5 5/16 x 2 13/16 in., 3/16 in., 30 g (13.5 x 7.2 cm, 0.5 cm, 1 1/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.231

Label TextAncient Egyptian grooming was much like ours today but done with different tools. Wooden combs untangled hair. Razors sharpened by grinding palettes kept men and women clean-shaven. Blunt-edged tweezers plucked out unruly hairs. Oil and unguent were applied to the skin to soften hair for shaving and plucking. Kohl made eyes more luminous and protected them from disease and the sun’s glare. Kohl was stored in pots and tubes of many shapes. Once mixed with a binder, kohl was applied by kohl sticks or the fingers to help it adhere to eye rims and lashes. Bronze mirrors polished to a high sheen reflected the area to be groomed or beautified.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesTardy, Les Ivoires (2) Antiquite, Islam, Inde, Chine, Japon, Afrique noire, regions polaires, Amerique (Paris: Tardy, 1977), 72, number 3.
Melinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 4.

ProvenanceEx coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, from at least 1977-1982, possibly purchased from Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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