This Battlefield Palette may be the earliest battle scene representation from Ancient Egypt. Created before Egypt was united as one state under one pharaoh, a regional ruler commissioned this decorated palette to increase their influence.
It was intended for display in early rituals related to power. The Battlefield Palette depicts the aftermath of a great battle.
A lion devours a prisoner and vultures attack bound individuals and corpses. In the top left, two captives are tied to ceremonial standards topped with images that may represent gods.
The Battlefield Palette has the circular defined area for the mixing of an unknown ceremonial substance. The battlefield scene was a forerunner of hieroglyphs.
The palette is made of grey mudstone and is pictured with another fragment from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
The palette is decorated on both faces with scenes in low relief, and on the reverse of the palette are two long-necked gazelles browsing on a date-palm.
Cosmetic palettes were initially used by Egyptians to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics.
As the art and grandeur invested in palettes grew, they eventually morphed into burial tributes and then into much larger ceremonial and ritual items.
The palette was made during the Naqada III period, which was the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating approximately from 3200 to 3000 BC.
It is the period during which the process of state formation, became highly visible, with named kings heading dominant institutionalized hierarchy.
Another historically significant battlefield palette is the Narmer Palette, which has some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found.
The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC
- Artifact: The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC
- Date: 3100 BC
- Period: Naqada III
- Findspot: Abydos, Egypt
- Materials: Mudstone
- Dimensions: H:19.6 cm W:28.7 cm D: 1 cm; H: 32.8 cm (With Oxford fragment)
- Museum: The British Museum
Palette – A Quick Guide
A Tour of the British Museum
Ancient Egypt and Sudan Collection
- The Rosetta Stone
- The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC
- Quartzite Head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III
- Colossal Granite Statue of Amenhotep III
- Hunters Palette
- Tomb of Nebamun
- Younger Memnon (Ramesses II)
Middle East Collection
- The Lion Hunt
- Cyrus Cylinder
- Royal Game of Ur
- Gilgamesh Flood Tablet
- Stela of Shamshi-Adad V
- Standard of Ur
- Ram in a Thicket
- Tell al-‘Ubaid Copper Lintel
Ancient Greece and Rome Collection
- Marble figure of a Woman – Spedos Type
- The Parthenon Marbles
- The Parthenon Frieze
- Metopes of the Parthenon
- Pedimental Sculptures of the Parthenon
- The Erechtheion Caryatid
- Lion from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
- Bust of Pericles
- Aegina Treasure
- Townley Caryatid
- Bronze Statue of a Youth
- Thalia, Muse of Comedy
- Nereid Monument
- Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa
- Lely Venus – Crouching Aphrodite
- Tomb of Payava
- Marble Portrait Bust of the Blind Poet Homer
Britain, Europe, and Prehistory Collection
- Ain Sakhri Lovers
- The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial
- Lewis Chessmen
- Holy Thorn Reliquary
- Mechanical Galleon
- Black St George Icon
- Knight Aquamanile
- Gold Mold Cape
Asian Collection
- Seated Buddha from Gandhara
- Statue of Tara
- Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
- Avalokiteshvara – Guanyin
- Nandi – Figure of the Humped Bull of Śiva
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- Luohan – Yixian Glazed Ceramic Sculpture
Africa, Oceania and the Americas Collection
- Double-Headed Serpent
- Hoa Hakananai’a/ Moai from Easter Island
- Hawaiian Feathered Helmet
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The Prints and Drawings Collection
- “Studies of a Reclining Male Nude” by Michelangelo
- Newport Castle by J. M. W. Turner
- “Hampstead Heath” by John Constable
- “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai
- “Rainstorm Beneath the Summit” by Katsushika Hokusai
Information on The British Museum
- Masterpieces of the British Museum
Egyptian Art – Predynastic, Old Kingdom
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“Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.”
– Otto von Bismarck
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