<em>Double Kohl Tube with Applicator</em>, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Faience (container), bronze (applicator), 4 x 1 9/16 x 11/16 in. (10.2 x 4 x 1.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.671a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.11.671a-b_erg456.jpg)

Double Kohl Tube with Applicator, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Faience (container), bronze (applicator), 4 x 1 9/16 x 11/16 in. (10.2 x 4 x 1.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.671a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.11.671a-b_erg456.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Wow. How did the vase get this rich blue color?

That is made of a really interesting material called faience, considered by Egyptologists as the first high-tech ceramic. The material is made of pure ground quartz, which has a dazzling, white look to it, which is why the ancient Egyptians called it tjehenet (dazzling). The quartz would have several other ingredients added to it; a small part of lime or calcium oxide and soda, all found in the rich desert sands and quarries in their landscape. These ingredients were either added to it before firing in the kiln, so that the beautiful blue would rise to the surface, or it would be put in a vessel of this powder so it would be coated from the outside while fired. Faience is glazed in many different shades of green and blue, which you'll see throughout the galleries.

What is this?

This is a "Double Kohl Tube with Applicator" and was used for makeup. Egyptian men and women alike wore dark black kohl, or eyeliner, both for fashion, and to protect their eyes from the sun.

How did women like Nefertiti apply their makeup in ancient Egypt? Were there tools they used or just their fingers?

I love that question! They used an applicator stick! You can see a few on display in our galleries. One is in the central Egyptian gallery.

Women (and men!) lined their eyes of kohl, which is a black powder made from metal sulfides. This not only was considered beautiful but it also reduced the glare of the sun and repelled flies!

Double Kohl Tube with Applicator

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

Kohl Containers

Eye makeup has been used for millennia.

Ancient Egyptian men and women used a dark substance called kohl as eye makeup for nearly four thousand years, from the Predynastic Period until the Roman occupation in the fourth century c.e. Kohl emphasized the eyes, reduced sun glare, and repelled flies. The common presence of kohl containers in burials indicates that the Egyptians believed these concerns would continue in the afterlife.

MEDIUM Faience (container), bronze (applicator)

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 4 x 1 9/16 x 11/16 in. (10.2 x 4 x 1.7 cm) Stick: 5 in. (12.7 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 11.671a-b

CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Double kohl tube of deep blue faience, crudely decorated with three vertical black lines on each side and one black band around neck of each tube. Bronze kohl stick inserted in opening between the tubes. Within each tube is a small ball apparently of linen. Very probably they were originally used as stoppers and have worked down. Condition: Good, glaze worn in spots, poor workmanship.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Double Kohl Tube with Applicator, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Faience (container), bronze (applicator), 4 x 1 9/16 x 11/16 in. (10.2 x 4 x 1.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.671a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.11.671a-b_erg456.jpg)

IMAGE overall, CUR.11.671a-b_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/6/2007

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS