Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 4

An Egyptian greywacke cosmetic palette

28 November 2017, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £8,750 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

An Egyptian greywacke cosmetic palette
Predynastic Period, Naqada II, circa 3500-3200 B.C.
In the form of a tilipia fish, with an open mouth and small tail, the fins with serrated edges, a drilled circular eye on both sides, pierced at the top for suspension, 21cm long

Footnotes

Provenance:
Roland Hartlaub collection, Iphofen.
Spezialauktion Sammlung ägyptischer Kunst u.a.; Auktionshaus Weidler, conducted in-situ at the collector's private museum, Iphofen, 20 July 2005, lot 3 (part lot).
Private collection, Germany, acquired at the above sale.

Palettes in the form of tilipia fish are well attested for the Naqada II period, though the present lot's lack of naturalism suggests a date towards the end of this epoch. The hollowed eyes were once inlaid, probably with beads. See W.M.F. Petrie, Prehistoric Egypt: Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery and Palettes, London, 1920, pl. LIV, 45F/H for similar forms.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin

A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk

A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces

An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration

A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg

A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder