A stone palette (also called a toilet tray) is a round tray commonly found in the areas of

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

and

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

, and which usually represent Greek mythological scenes. Some of them are attributed to the Indo-Greek period in the 2nd and 1st century BCE (a few were retrieved from the Indo-Greek stratum No.5 at Sirkap.) Many are considered to be of later production, around the 1st century CE during the time of the Indo-Parthians. They practically disappeared after the 1st century. Many have been found at the archaeological site of Sirkap, in today's

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Function

Scholars have suggested that these trays were used to mix cosmetic products (cf. ancient Egyptian cosmetic palettes). The Ancient Orient Museum was able to analyse the remains of substances adhering to a number of stone palettes, which turned out to be colored cosmetic powders akin to blush. A

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

discovered in Butkara shows a woman using a

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

as she puts her fingers into one of these stone palettes. These stone palettes provide an interesting instance of

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

art in the northwestern Indian subcontinent. They are disconnected from the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

narrative to which works are usually associated in the

Greco-Buddhist art The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara, located in the northwestern fringe of t ...

. Few of the palettes contain representations of the Buddha.

Crescent-shaped divided bowl

File:Ritual Tray with a Nereid (Sea Nymph) and a Cherub Riding a Sea Monster (Ketos) LACMA M.2003.70.jpg, Nereid and a Cherub riding a Sea Monster ( Ketos). Image:StonePaletteApolloAndDaphne.jpg, Apollo and Daphne. Image:StonePaletteCoupleWithSeaSerpent.jpg, Couple with sea serpent. Image:StonePaletteMythologicalScene.jpg, Mythological scene with

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

and Herakles. Image:IndoGreekNeptune.JPG, Poseidon with attendants. Ancient Orient Museum. Image:IndoGreekAphrodite.JPG,

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

at her bath. Image:StonePalette1.JPG, Man with cup in hand, riding a Ketos sea-monster. Image:StonePalette5.JPG, Banquet or funerary scene. Image:GandharaToiletTray1stCentury.jpg, Banquet or funerary scene. Image:StonePaletteTNM.jpg, Female triton, Tokyo National Museum Image:IndoGreekArtifactsDrawings.JPG, Stone palette and other artifacts found in the Indo-Greek level at Sirkap (Stratum 5) Image:FriendlyAnimalsPalette.jpg, Friendly animals. File:Equestrian stone palette Gandhara.jpg, Equestrian stone palette, Gandhara. File:Tray showing Nereid riding a mythical sea monster, 1st century AD, soapstone - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01673.JPG, Tray showing Nereid riding a mythical sea monster.

T-shape dividers

Image:IndoParthianKing.JPG, Indo-Parthian king and attendants. Image:StonePaletteIndianNobleman.jpg, Indian nobleman with female attendants. Image:FireAltarWorship.JPG, Possible fire worship with altar. Image:IndoGreekFestivities.JPG, Indo-Greek drinking party. Image:IndoParthianReveling.JPG, Indo-Parthian revelers. Image:IndoParthianCouple.JPG, Indo-Parthian couple. Image:FightingAnimalsPalette.jpg, Fighting animals. File:Gandhara palette.jpg, Reveling couple.

Other shapes

Image:StonePaletteDrunkHeracles.jpg, Drunk Herakles. Image:IndoGreekBanquet.JPG, Indo-Greek festivities. Image:IndoParthianHunting.JPG, Indo-Parthian man hunting. Image:StonePalette4.JPG, Man riding a Ketos sea-monster. Image:StonePalette7.JPG, Sun god Surya, or possibly the Buddha, riding a chariot. Image:Palette.JPG, Man with cup, riding a Ketos sea-monster. Image:PalletteFragment.JPG, Woman in Greek clothing, riding a Ketos sea-monster. File:Rondel with the Goddess Hariti.Met.jpg, Palette with the Goddess Hariti.

Egyptian stone palettes

Egyptians are known to have made stone palettes in the form of cups ("coupelles") with images of deities during the 2nd century CE, at the time of

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

. They variously represent

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

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 ...

- Sobek, Sarapis,

Harpocrates Harpocrates (, Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokratēs'') is the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in History of Alexandria#Ptolemaic era ...

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

. Egyptian coupelles with deities, 2nd century CE.jpg, Egyptian coupelles with deities (

- Sobek...), 2nd century CE Egyptian cups with deities, 2nd century CE.jpg, Egyptian cups with deities ( Sarapis,

...), 2nd century CE

External links

Many examples of stone palettes

Notes

References

* Francfort, Henri-Paul "Les Palettes du Gandhara" 1979 (in French). Paris: Diffusion de Brocard. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Palette Archaeology of Pakistan Archaeological palettes Hellenistic art Gandhara art