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.

Many of the palettes were found at Hierakonpolis, a centre of power in pre-dynastic Upper Egypt. After the unification of the country, the palettes ceased to be included in tomb assemblages.

Notable palettes

Notable decorative palettes are:

• The Cosmetic palette in the form of a Nile tortoise
• The Narmer Palette, often thought to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the pharaoh Narmer, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Libyan Palette, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• The Four Dogs Palette, displaying African wild dogs,^[1] giraffes, and other quadrupeds, Louvre
• The Battlefield Palette, British Museum and Ashmolean Museum
• The Bull Palette, at the Musée du Louvre, named for the bull at the top — obverse and reverse — trampling a man
• The Hunters Palette, British Museum and Louvre

Even undecorated palettes were often given pleasing shapes, such as the zoomorphic palettes, which included turtles and, very commonly, fish. The fish zoomorphic palette often had an upper-centrally formed hole, presumably for suspension, and thus display.

There are also Near East stone palettes, from Canaan,^[2] Bactria, and Gandhara.

History of Egyptian palettes

Siltstone was first utilized for cosmetic palettes by the Badarian culture. The first palettes used in the Badarian Period and in Naqada I were usually plain, rhomboidal or rectangular in shape, without any further decoration. It is in the Naqada II period in which the zoomorphic palette is most common. On these examples there is more focus on symbolism and display, rather than a purely functional object for grinding pigments. The importance of symbolism eventually outweighs the functional aspect with the more elite examples found in the Naqada III period, but there is also a reversion to non-zoomorphic designs among non-elite individuals.

List of famous ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes

Name	Image	Dimensions	Location	Notes + Topic
Battlefield Palette "Vultures Palette", etc.		Full Height? 50 x 32 cm-(?) (20 x 13 in)	British Museum	Side A: war; Side B: peace ('Order vs Chaos')
Bull Palette		26.5 x 14.5 cm	Louvre
Hunters Palette		30.5 x 15 cm (12 x 6 in)	British Museum Louvre Museum	Only one side is sculpted, the palette is broken in four fragments, one of which is lost. The top-right fragment is on display at the Louvre, accession number E 11254
Libyan Palette			Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Min Palette			British Museum
Narmer Palette "Great Hierakonpolis Palette"		64 x 42 cm (25 x 17 in)	Egyptian Museum, Cairo	Narmer's victory over Lower Egypt
Oxford Palette "Two Dogs Palette"			Ashmolean Museum
"Four Dogs Palette"		32.0 × 17.7 cm	Louvre Museum

Other palettes

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  Fragment of a ceremonial palette illustrating a man and a type of staff. Circa 3200–3100 BCE Predynastic, Late Naqada III.
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  Fragment of a palette 3200-2800 BCE
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  Palette in the shape of a boat, 3700-3600 BCE, Naqada I.
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  Mudstone palette in the form of a bull, with inlaid shell eyes Predynastic, Naqada I 4000-3600 BC EA 20910 (British Museum)
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  Mudstone cosmetic palette in the form of a turtle with inlaid bone eyes (one missing). Predynastic, Naqada I. 4000-3600 BC. EA 37913 (British Museum)
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  Mudstone palette in the form of a hippopotamus. Predynastic, Naqada I. 4000-3600 BC. EA 29416. (British Museum)
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  Naqada I-II palette for blending cosmetics
• 
  A rare Naqada III Egyptian Cosmetic palette found beyond Egypt, in Ashkelon or Gaza, end of 4th millennium, Louvre Museum AO 5359.^[3]
• 
  Duck-shaped palette
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  Carved ceremonial palette, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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  Part of a ceremonial palette of grey mudstone - with the figure of an antelope in low relief at the top. This figure was carved on both sides of the palette. Late Predynastic, Naqada III. 3250-3100 BC