Palette Depicting a Pair of Mud Turtles

Palette Depicting a Pair of Mud Turtles

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The large mud turtle, Trionyx triunguis, which inhabited the Nile River and its canals, is the subject of many palettes and this one is quite unusual in depicting a pair. The duo may represent a mating pair linking the palette’s imagery to the concept of fertility and therefore regeneration. In the Pharaonic Period, the turtle had a dual reputation, on one hand the animal was connected to chaos and disorder, and on the other, it could be a potent amulet when the turtle’s negative character was used as a protective force. Given the turtle is the subject of an implement for manufacturing pigment for eye paint, a protective interpretation seems fitting.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Palette Depicting a Pair of Mud TurtlesPalette Depicting a Pair of Mud TurtlesPalette Depicting a Pair of Mud TurtlesPalette Depicting a Pair of Mud TurtlesPalette Depicting a Pair of Mud Turtles

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.