I have always been fascinated with ancient Egyptian art and culture. For a long time, my sister and I were plotting to move to Egypt to belly dance. Then we realized we would have to gain fifty pounds for our bellies to be worthy enough spectacles. Reality has set in, but ancient Egypt is still a place of awe and inspiration for me.
In class, we looked at the exquisite carvings of the Palette of Narmer. This artifact reveals so much about Egyptian art conventions, culture, and writing style. King Narmer, with the use of hieratic scale, is portrayed larger than his enemies. The enemy, who is about to be bashed over the head with a club, is inferior to Narmer’s larger frame. The palette also uses phonetic symbols to represent the King’s name.
However, what is most interesting to me is the symbolic portrayal of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt with the twisting of two elongated lion heads on the opposite side of the palette. Although this palette is thought to be an extraordinary version of an ordinary object and was probably never used, the twisted lion heads make up the round area where pigment would normally be ground into eye shadow. The image of ancient Egyptian men and women alike wearing eye makeup has always seems like an eccentricity until we discussed the need for such make up (protection from the elements). However, even knowing this, it is hard for me to understand why such an important event as the unification of Egypt would be carved onto the form of a makeup palette. Any theories?
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