Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · other
Palette in the Shape of a Fish
Description
Object Label: Stone palettes were used as surfaces on which to grind green or black pigments into powder. After adding a gum-like adhesive to the powder, the mixture was applied as eye makeup. This palette represents a tilapia fish, which lived in the Nile and was emblematic of fertility. The Egyptians also ate tilapia, and it is still a popular dish today. Caption: Palette in the Shape of a Fish, ca. 3400–3200 B.C.E.. Graywacke, 6 11/16 x 4 1/8 in. (17 x 10.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.611. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 07.447.611 tier-2
- BKM-Object 4228 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.