A list of a small subset 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 headspalette (Brooklyn)"2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum "Bird palette (Louvre no XXX)"(bird-resting, on its feet)Wikimedia Commons: Bird-resting, (on its feet) Double-Bird Palette, ("Anchor Palette") Bull Palette El Ahaiwah Dog Palette Four Dogs Palette, Giraffes Palette Oxford PaletteMinor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette "Fish palette (Louvre dolphin type)"Wikimedia Commons: Fish, (dolphin-type), Louvre New Kingdom: Fish-shaped palette-(Bulti-hieroglyph type); Adorned fish side/ with cosmetic side for daily use.Vicroria Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Bulti Fish-shaped cosmetic palette,
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. 2Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Turtle Palette, (circular, small appendages) p 18.
List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes
NameDimensionsImageLocationNotes + TopicBattlefield PaletteVultures Palette, etc.Full Height?50 x 32 cm-(?)(20 x 13 in)British MuseumSide A: war; Side B: peace('Order vs Chaos')Bull Palette–LouvreGerzeh Palette –Egyptian Museum, CairoHunters 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 PaletteEl Amrah Palette–Narmer PaletteGreat Hierakonpolis Palette64 x 42 cm(25 x 17 in)Egyptian Museum in CairoUnification 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.)
NameDimensionsImageLocation<-->FormNotes + Topic"Two-bird headspalette (Brooklyn)"2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum 22.5 x 11.8 cm(8.8 x 4.6 in)Brooklyn Museum, USAV38Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-HeadsFour Dogs PaletteGiraffes PaletteLouvre Palette–LouvreV38Obverse:Four canines and other animals, w/cosmetic circle"Duck, trussed"Trussed-Goose Palette-G54–British MuseumV38Hunters Palette (horizontally– –oriented)30.5 x 15 cm(12 x 6 in)British MuseumN20(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) V38Discovered in a tomb, dated to Pharaoh Den's reignCosmetic Circle: two confronted lions with intertwined necks, (as on the Narmer Palette).Min PaletteEl Amrah Palette–V38The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"–R23 with the hieroglyph for "crook-staff"–S39(1/4 of palette face)Narmer PaletteGreat Hierakonpolis Palette64 x 42 cm(25 x 17 in)Egyptian Museum, CairoV38Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt, (Upper and Lower Egypt)Oxford PaletteMinor Hierakonpolis Dogs Palette"Ashmolean Palette""Two Dog Palette" 42 x 22 cm(17 x 9 in)Ashmolean Museum, no. E3294V38greywacke, ca. 3150 BCtwo serpopards, necks framing a mixing circle, and necks in wave-motion-(3-cycles); both serpopards are licking a gazelle, (as a newborn, or young)Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, "Ceremonial palette, Hierakonpolis", p 27.
Zoomorphic palettes A list of zoomorphic, or animal style Egyptian palettes.
NameDimensionsLocationNotes + Topic"Anchor Palette"("Double Bird (Pelta) Palette")–Pelta?Anchor-shaped, double outward facing bird-headsBird (Louvre)(a goose)–LouvreNaqada IId-IIIc"El Ahaiwah Dog Palette"–from El Ahaiwah- (El Ahaiwah)"Duck, trussed"Trussed-Goose Palette-G54–British Museumportrayed later in hieroglyphs as G54, a 'trussed goose'Elephant palette(length-(horizontal):~20.5 cm, (~8 in)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.Egyptian Museum, BerlinGeese Palette(broken palette)14.5 x 11.5 cm(6 x 5 in)British Museum, 32074schistremainder piece has large, entire cosmetic circle, 2 small confronted geese belowBarbary Goat palette–British MuseumTurtle Palette{circular) –LouvreCircular shapewith small turtle appendagesTurtle Palette no. 2Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, Turtle Palette, (circular, small appendages) p 18.{circular) –Egyptian Museum, BerlinCircular shapewith small turtle appendages
Bird palettes
NameDimensionsLocation<-->FormNotes + TopicBird (Louvre)(a goose)–LouvreG42Naqada IId-IIIcgoose, seated-(at rest)"Duck, trussed"Trussed-GoosePalette-G54–British MuseumV38G54"Two-bird headspalette (Brooklyn)"2-Bird-heads Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum 22.5 x 11.8 cm(8.8 x 4.6 in)Brooklyn Museum, USAV38H1-H1Unadorned palette, Shield-shaped, with 2-opposed-Bird-HeadsGuinea Fowl PaletteGuinea Fowl Palette, Egyptian Galleries,, 3rd floor, Brooklyn Museum 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
NameDimensionsLocation<-->FormNotes + TopicMin Antelope Palette–N33(Naqada IId-IIIc)circular with suspension hole, inscribed with antelope, 1/3 of face"Ka Palette (no. 1)"–?Q3D28, Ka hieroglyph-shaped platelarge vertical offering-style plate (see the Hotep-style plates, and the Ancient Egyptian offering formula)Wikimedia Commons, Hotep offering tables"Ka Palette (no. 2)"–?Q3D28, Ka hieroglyph-shaped plateplus Ankh, Papyrus, and U3S-staff S34, M13, S40
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: N14, F13, and possibly a relation to Y8, Hathor-sistrum, (the shape of the cow's head, as on the Narmer Palette), and R20.
Min Palette The only adornment is a "typographic ligature" style combination of the archaic "Min symbol"--R23 with the hieroglyph for "crook-staff"--S39(1/4 of palette face).
Galleries
Zoomorphic gallery
Miscellaneous pallettes
See also Cosmetic palette Zoomorphic palette Gardiner's Sign List
References
Schulz, Regine; Seidel, Matthias eds.; Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs, (w/ 34 contributing Authors), Konemann, Germany, c 1998, (538 pp), (hardcover, ).
External links
Corpus of Egyptian Late Predynastic Palettes by Francesco Raffaele