3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Painter's Palette at Met Still Bears Original Colors

A 3,000-year-old artist's palette belonging to Amenemopet, vizier to Pharaoh Amenhotep III (c.1391–c.1354 BC), is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Carved from a single piece of ivory and inscribed "beloved of Re," the palette contains six basic Egyptian colors plus two extras: reddish brown (red ocher and carbon) and orange (orpiment and red ocher). Curator Catharine H. Roehrig notes that painters could vary shades by adjusting paint thickness or adding white or black. Minerals used include gypsum, carbon, iron oxides, azurite, and malachite, ground with natural binders. Colors held deep symbolism: wadj (green) meant flourishing; dshr (red) could signify protection or chaos; irtyu (blue) represented the heavens; khenet (yellow) symbolized eternity; hdj (white) purity; and kem (black) death and resurrection. The palette is on display in the Met's Egyptian wing.