This is a mallet. It is from Egypt but the exact location is unknown. Stoneworkers (and woodworkers) used heavy wooden mallets with copper alloy chisels to shape the stone they…

This is a mallet. It is from Grave 17 at Maidum. Egyptian stoneworkers (and woodworkers) used heavy wooden mallets with copper alloy chisels, to shape the stone they were working.…

This is a graffiti sketch, probably of a bird or a pot. It is from El-'Amarna (Akhetaten). Artists often used limestone fragments to draw on, for practice or for their…

This is a graffiti sketch of a bird. It is from Abydos, from the Osiris Temenos. Artists often used limestone fragments to draw on, for practice or for their own…

This is a piece of graffiti, or sketches, on limestone. It is from Deir el-Bahari, probably from the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II. Artists often used limestone fragments to draw…

This is the coffin of a woman called Iy-tau-Mut . It is from Thebes. This coffin belonged to a woman called Iy-tau-Mut. She has the titles Lady of the House…

This is a paint palette. It is from Naukratis. A full palette had six dips, like this one, one for each of the basic pigments of red, yellow, blue, green,…

This is a limestone fragment with a squared grid on it. It is from Egypt but the exact location is unknown. Squared grids were used by Egyptian artists to work…

This is a paint palette and grinder. It is from Tell Nabasha. The Egyptian artist had to prepare his own paints, or employ an assistant to do it for him.…

These are examples of Egyptian paint pigments. They are from Thebes. The Egyptian artist had a limited range of colours to work with. The colours he used came mostly from…