The Bull Palette (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

: palette célébrant une victoire) is the fragment of an

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

palette, carved in low relief and used, at least in principle, as a

cosmetic palette Cosmetic palettes are archaeological Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, originally used in predynastic Egypt, predynastic ancient Egypt, Egypt to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th mil ...

for the grinding of

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

. It is dated to

Naqada III Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Prehistoric Egypt, Egyptian prehistory, dating from approximately 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became ...

, the final two centuries of the fourth millennium BC, immediately preceding the Early Dynastic Period). It is in the collection of the

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, inventory no. E11255. The palette is broken and only a portion of half of it remains. Both sides of it are carved, with some figures on each side differing from the other. The accompanying image presents both sides. The obverse of the cosmetic palette contains a large circular fortified city that is identified in its interior with a "larger-

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

-and-'Nu'-(vessel)"– W24 a hieroglyph represented to the right of the lioness. The reverse of the cosmetic palette has iconography that became hieroglyphs for the: ''clenched fist'',

Wilkinson Wilkinson or Wilkinsons may refer to: Businesses and brands * Wilko, formerly Wilkinson Hardware, a British retail chain * Wilkinson Sword, a British manufacturer of razor blades, formerly swords, motorbikes and other products ** Wilkinson TMC ...

, ''Reading Egyptian Art'', Clenched Hand, pp 54-55. five

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

s surmounted by animals, being represented by two hippopotamuses, the "Sacred Ibis", the

Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

, and ''the thuderbolt of Min–symbol''.

The palette

The Bull Palette (remainder piece about ) is made of

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

, and is etched in more atypical medium to medium-low relief than similar

s. A presumed 'fortified city' on the obverse (front) in the upper

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

has a major loss of the city-rectangle on upper left showing this medium-level

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. The register below appears to be a smaller area of the palette, and has the remains, (approximately one quarter), of a second fortified city; a bird is one identifier in the second city-fortified interior, with the rest missing.

Obverse

The obverse (front) of the Bull Pallette has the top left iconography of the ''Bull overpowering a Warrior''. The right half is missing, with a probable second bull facing the first, as part of the upper borders, for both the left and the right. The rest of the obverse (front) contains a large "fortified-walled-city", and is identified in the center with a larger-

-and-'Nu'-(vessel) that contains a lioness and the pot; a smaller register section below contains the upper left quarter of a second fortified-city. The second city is of smaller size than the identified city in the upper register.

Reverse

The reverse (back) of the palette has the same ''bull overpowering a warrior'' motif. A rope appears to encircle, or is at least part of the entire reverse, as one of the reverse motifs. The remaining piece-(of this broken cosmetic palette) has possibly one of the more important motifs preserved in the palettes corpus. Five standards are shown collectively on the right of the palette, and each is an iat standard (hieroglyph), but notably the base of each standard transforms into a 'clenched hand', which embraces the large-diameter rope encircling the reverse side. The five standards are: :#A hippopotamus with open mouth :#A hippopotamus with open mouth :#The "Sacred Ibis" :#The standing

-Falcon :#Symbol: "Thunderbolt of Min"-(an encircled snake on standard?) The palette's reverse contains only two clues to suggest the entire scene on that side of the broken palette. The encircling rope has the bull, a defeated warrior, (and another presumed pair on left), and two other body parts of warriors. Open space (field?) covers space as large, or larger than the two warrior portions. A warrior's leg is shown and is partially fractured-out (chipped), from the

-(the knee portion); adjacent and below the leg, is a perfectly preserved warrior head, with eye, ear, beard, necklace cord, and a "stylized

hairdo A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...

"-(close cropped).

Similar motif on Narmer Palette

The motifs of the sides of the palette are presumably the ''bull overpowering an enemy'', the named-fortified-cities, war-scenes, a collection of deities supporting the war-scenery-(on standards). That is a motif appearing on another cosmetic from ancient Egypt, the well-known

Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archaeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, belonging, at least nominally, to the category of cosmetic palettes ...

, shown here for comparison and to demonstrate the probable size. File:NarmerPallette-Front.jpg, Narmer Palette: bull overpowering warrior motif, (similar) File:NarmerPallette-Back.jpg, Narmer Palette: a glyph above left-warrior, (similar to a fortification compound?)

References

, ''Reading Egyptian Art, A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture'', c 1992a; Thames and Hudson, with 450 Illustrations.

External links