Culture Ark · Browse the gallery · 60 illustrated picks on Apiary
CA0911 · ordinary life
Creator/community: Unidentified Egyptian makers Place/era: Egypt, Thebes; ca. 1550–1500 BCE
Generated interpretation
Mostly realistic generated object study for Wooden kohl tube with its applicator. Credit: AI-generated presentation illustration using built-in image_gen; guided by the credited public-domain Met reference photograph.. Rights: Generated output; no exclusive-rights or public-domain claim. Reference image is public domain under Met Open Access.. Changes: Resized within1400px and converted to WebP; no crop or substantive alteration. Image source Image licence
Lighting, color and small details are interpretive. This illustration is not evidence of original condition, contents or use. No promise of exclusive ownership, enforceable copyright or museum endorsement.
Documented reference / existing artwork
Kohl tube and stick. ca. 1550–1500 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 31.3.96a, b. Credit: Unidentified artist / The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rogers Fund, 1931. Rights: Public domain; Met Open Access. Changes: Resized within1400px and converted to WebP; no crop or substantive alteration. Image source Image licence
Met API explicitly marks isPublicDomain=true. Image reuse permission does not transfer ownership of the object or resolve cultural permissions, sacred significance, provenance or restitution questions. Retain the catalog context.
History and context
This small wooden cosmetic container survives together with an applicator, giving the archive a paired object rather than an isolated vessel. The museum identifies the materials as wood and ebony and records its discovery in an anonymous burial below the tomb of Senenmut at Thebes. Its form points to the preparation and application of eye cosmetics, an activity whose equipment could accompany the dead. The pairing is useful because it makes a bodily practice legible without relying on a modern reconstruction. At the same time, an archaeological find does not tell us the complete recipe, frequency of use, or personal preferences of the person buried with it.
What future readers can learn
Curatorial interpretation: Keeping related objects together can make gestures and routines more understandable than preserving containers alone.
Limits and cultural context
This entry does not repeat historical therapeutic claims for lead-containing cosmetics or offer a recipe. The burial’s occupant is unidentified.
Where to learn more
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