Fish cosmetic palette
Encyclopedia
Predynastic Egypt
The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....
are one of the common types of the zoomorphic palette
Zoomorphic palette
The Zoomorphic palette is a type of Cosmetic palette made during the predynastic period of Egypt. The palettes are found at burial sites, for example Abydos in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.-Overview:...
s, which are shaped in the form of the animal portrayed. The fish palettes are mostly ovoid in shape.
The palettes are made mostly of schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
, greywacke
Greywacke
Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...
, mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
, etc.
Description
The oldest cosmetic palettes from the Badarian, or NaqadaNaqada
Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.Naqada comprises...
I period are less adorned than later versions; also some gradation of ornateness should be considered for graves and tombs of less high-status individuals being interred, as these were common forms of grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
during the Naqada periods.
Bulti fish, NCMA
The North Carolina Museum of ArtNorth Carolina Museum of Art
The North Carolina Museum of Art is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, featuring paintings and sculpture representing 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present. The museum features more than 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen works of art in its Museum Park...
has a Bulti-fish palette, greywacke, with dimensions about 5 x 3.25 in. It is smaller than the large palettes, but has fins portrayed on the dorsal, tail, and pectoral fins, front and rear. The mouth is formed, and there is a suspension hole.
Bulti palette, Adaima Tomb S218
A 19 cm (7 in) long Bulti-fish type palette was found at Adaima, Egypt, Tomb S218. It is probably Naqada I, has a simple, truncated height dorsal fin, but is of the extended body length, as in the Bulti fish. It has a very simple stub of a tail fin, no fins incised, and 3 lines each for forward, and rear pectoral fins. Two forward arced lines form gill slitGill slit
Gill slits are individual openings to gills, i.e., multiple gill arches, which lack a single outer cover. Such gills are characteristic of Cartilaginous fish such as sharks, rays, sawfish, and guitarfish. Most of these have five pairs, but a few species have 6 or 7 pairs...
s, and a yellowish eye is made with inlay.
Louvre dolphin type
The Louvre dolphin type fish palette is a NaqadaNaqada
Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.Naqada comprises...
I, or II palette. It has simple fish fin grooves on its tail, and its dorsal fin, towards the rear. The palette has an inlaid white eye, (often of shell). Because of its extended length, it contains three suspension holes.
Vienna fish palette
The fish palette at the Kunsthistorisches MuseumKunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
, Vienna, is more ornate than common fish palettes. It is a Bulti-fish type, and notable for a large cosmetic mixing circle adorning the center of the fish, (photo: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/hesyra/palettes/Wien-fishpalette.htm),. Other small animals are inscribed on the fish body in low bas relief, a fish, a duck with two duckling
Gosling
Gosling might refer to*A young goose*Gosling *Henry Gosling Prize, awarded to young European artists*Gosling Emacs, an Emacs implementation*Gosling's Rum, a brand of Bermuda rumPeople with the surname Gosling:...
s, a crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
, and a 2nd bird.