Old Kingdom, 2686-2181 BC. A ground and polished greywacke cosmetic or painter's palette shaped as a falcon in profile with hole to the 'eye' and another along the back. See Wengrow, D. The Archaeology of Early Egypt: Social Transformations in North East Africa, Cambridge, 2006 for discussion. 103 grams, 20cm (8"). From the family collection of a Hampstead gentleman; formerly acquired in the 1980s. Fine condition.