Battlefield Palette

Battlefield Palette
Obverse
Reverse
The Battlefield Palette in the British Museum

The Battlefield Palette (also known as the Vultures Palette, the Giraffes Palette, or the Lion Palette)[1] may be the earliest battle scene representation of the dozen or more ceremonial or ornamental cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt. Along with the others in this series of palettes, including the Narmer Palette, it includes some of the first representations of the figures, or glyphs, that became Egyptian hieroglyphs. Most notable on the Battlefield Palette is the standard (iat hieroglyph), and Man-prisoner hieroglyph, probably the forerunner that gave rise to the concept of the Nine bows (representation of foreign tribal enemies).

The palettes probably date mostly from the Naqada III (ca. 3300–3100 BC),[2] i.e. late predynastic period, around 3100 BC.[3] The two major pieces of the Battlefield Palette are held by the British and Ashmolean Museums.

  1. ^ "The Battlefield palette - Corpus of Egyptian Late Predynastic Palettes". xoomer.virgilio.it. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  2. ^ Giuliano, Charles. "The Dawn of Egyptian Art - Berkshire Fine Arts". Berkshire Fine Arts. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  3. ^ "The Battlefield Palette". British Museum. Retrieved 28 February 2018.