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Lump of Blue Paste

New Kingdom
ca. 1473–1458 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 116
This small lump is Egyptian blue, a synthetic pigment made from sand, lime, an alkali such as potash or natron, and a copper compound. The components were mixed together and heated in a furnace, producing blue lumps like this one, which could be ground into a pigment. The lump was in a wooden box (36.3.199) together with a bead, a piece of rock salt, and five berries. The box belonged to the burial of an elderly woman (for her coffin, see 36.3.184).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Lump of Blue Paste
  • Period: New Kingdom
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 18
  • Reign: Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
  • Date: ca. 1473–1458 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Senenmut (TT 71), below, burial 2, in box, MMA excavations, 1935–36
  • Medium: Paste
  • Dimensions: L. 1 × H. 0.6 cm (3/8 × 1/4 in.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1936
  • Object Number: 36.3.202
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

More Artwork

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Five Berries, fruit
Five Berries
ca. 1473–1458 BCE
Glass cameo plaque fragment, Glass paste, Roman
Glass cameo plaque fragment
Roman
end of 1st century BCE–beginning of 1st century CE
Artist's Gridded Sketch of Senenmut, Limestone, ink
Artist's Gridded Sketch of Senenmut
ca. 1473–1458 BCE
Lump of Rock Salt, Rock Salt
Lump of Rock Salt
ca. 1473–1458 BCE
Cartonnage fragment inscribed for the Singer of Amun Shepenaset, Wood, paste, paint
Cartonnage fragment inscribed for the Singer of Amun Shepenaset
ca. 945–721 BCE

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