Paint Box of Vizier Amenemope

From the museum

This paint box was made in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. It includes five pots of color, each made of different minerals. Conservators identified the pigments using X-ray diffraction, a process that helps them determine the minerals that make up each color. The paint box belonged to a man named Amenemope (say: ah-men-em-oh-pee) who advised the pharaoh (king). He probably used it for fun, and it may have been buried with him when he died. The coffin panel on view nearby was made for a different man named Amenemope hundreds of years later. Imagine you are painting a picture for a king! Which colors would you use? What would you paint? Painting was a popular and time-honored pastime among the upper classes in Egypt.