Beauty and cosmetics in ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians regarded beauty as a sign of holiness. Everything they used had a spiritual aspect to it, including cosmetics. Both men and women wore makeup. Traders traded makeup often, especially in the upper classes. In tombs, cosmetic palettes were found buried in gold with the deceased as grave goods, which further emphasized the idea that cosmetics were not only used for aesthetic purposes but rather magical and religious purposes.
Cosmetic Box of the Royal Butler Kemeni; 1814–1805 BC; cedar with ebony, ivory veneer and silver mounting; height: 20.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Fish Shaped Makeup Palette used to crush and mix different powders to create makeup paste. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Merit's cosmetic box; circa 1390-1352 BC; wood, paint, faience, glass and alabaster; height: 22 cm, width: 29.5 cm, length: 49 cm; from Deir el-Medina (Egypt); Museo Egizio (Turin, Italy)
Cosmetic box in the shape of an Egyptian composite capital, its cap being in the left side; 664–300 BC; glassy faience; 8.5 × 9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cosmetic palettes are archaeological artifacts, originally used in predynastic Egypt to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and possibly ceremonial. They were made almost exclusively out of siltstone with a few exceptions. The siltstone originated from quarries in the Wadi Hammamat.
The "Four dogs Palette", Room 633 of the Louvre.
Fragment of a ceremonial palette illustrating a man and a type of staff. Circa 3200–3100 BCE Predynastic, Late Naqada III.
Fragment of a palette 3200-2800 BCE
Palette in the shape of a boat, 3700-3600 BCE, Naqada I.
