Hair Comb Decorated with Rows of Wild Animals

Period: Predynastic, Late Naqada III

Date: ca. 3200–3100 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt

Medium: Ivory

Dimensions: h. 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in); w. 3.9 cm (1 9/16 in); th. 0.5 cm (3/16 in)

Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915

Accession Number: 30.8.224

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 101

Finely carved ivory combs and knife handles produced toward the end of Egypt's prehistory demonstrate the high standards Egyptian artists had achieved, even before the Old Kingdom. This comb may have been part of the funeral equipment of an elite person who lived about 5,200 years ago. Parts of the comb's teeth, now missing, can be seen along the bottom edge. The detailed decoration suggests that it was a ceremonial object, not just an instrument for arranging the hair. On both sides are figures of animals in horizontal rows, a spatial organization familiar from later Egyptian art. The animals include elephants and snakes; wading birds and a giraffe; hyenas; cattle; and perhaps boars. Similar arrangements of these creatures on other carved ivory implements suggest that the arrangement and choice of animals were not haphazard. Elephants treading on snakes suggest that this part of the scene was symbolic. The mythologies of many African peoples associate elephants and serpents with the creation of the universe. The uppermost row of this comb may symbolize a creative deity to whom the rest of the animals owe their existence.

Audio

#3215. Ivory Comb and Ceremonial Palette

#3693. Ivory Comb and Ceremonial Palette

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Formerly Theodore M. Davis Collection. Bequeathed to the Museum by Davis, 1915; accessioned, 1930.

Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 27–28, fig. 20.

Dorman, Peter F., Prudence Harper, and Holly Pittman 1987. Egypt and the Ancient Near East in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 12.

Arnold, Dorothea 1995. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 52, no. 4 (Spring), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 8, no. 1.

Patch, Diana Craig 2011. "From Land to Landscape." In Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig Patch. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 33, 59, 80, n. 79.

Patch, Diana Craig 2011. "Early Dynastic Art." In Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig Patch. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 136–37, 152, n. 5, fig. 36.

Roth, Ann Macy 2011. "Objects, Animals, Humans, and Hybrids: The Evolution of Early Egyptian Representations of the Divine." In Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig Patch. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 197, no. 178.

Silverman, David P. 2011. "Text and Image and the Origin of Writing in Ancient Egypt." In Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig Patch. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 203.

Allen, Susan J. 2011. "Works in the Exhibition." In Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig Patch. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 261, no. 178.

Timelines
Egypt, 8000-2000 B.C.

The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom
The Orientation of Hieroglyphs. Part 1, Reversals
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Egypt and the Ancient Near East
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
"An Egyptian Bestiary": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 52, no. 4 (Spring, 1995)
Dawn of Egyptian Art
The Art of Ancient Egypt: A Resource for Educators