Skip Navigation

Palette in the Shape of a Boat

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
This palette apparently represents a Nile boat with up-curved prow and stern, and a small cabin amidships. Boats played an important role in Egyptian life, both as the primary means of transportation and as important religious symbols.
MEDIUM Graywacke
  • Place Collected: El Ma'mariya, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 3700-3600 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Predynastic Period, late Naqada I Period
    DIMENSIONS 4 3/16 x 1 13/16 in. (10.7 x 4.6 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 07.447.613
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Small thin slate palette of crescent shape, with stylized protusions on both ends and in center, perhaps representing a boat with a bird's head at the prow, its tail at the stern, and the cabin, represented by a three-pronged square, in center. Perforated by two string-holes, in the protrusions of center and tail. The round edge is rather sharp. Condition: Intact but for a tiny notch in middle of curved edge. Traces of use.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Palette in the Shape of a Boat, ca. 3700-3600 B.C.E. Graywacke, 4 3/16 x 1 13/16 in. (10.7 x 4.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.613. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.07.447.613_erg456.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.07.447.613_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/6/2007
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.