300 PAINTING MATERIALS

present, three shapes of palette are usual (figure 17): the oval, the oblong or
rectangular, and the studio or arm palette. The two former are from nine to
sixteen inches long and from six to twelve inches wide. The oval palette has a
thumb hole set not far from the center, and the edge is cut out in an irregular
curve so that the fingers can grasp the edge of the palette. The oblong palette
has three right angles, and the thumb hole is set fairly near the fourth corner which
is cut out in a curve suitably shaped for a grip. The studio or arm palette is larger
than the other two types, and varies from about twenty to nearly thirty inches in
length and from about fourteen to about eighteen in width. The thumb hole is

FIGURE 14. Containers for ink: (a) ink or color pots set in holes of a board at the edge of
a scribe's desk, as shown in a painting of the German school, *St Luke/ Castle Rohoncz,
Hungary; (b) an inkwell and stopper in a 'Portrait of a Young Painter/ by H. Burgkmair,
late XV century, from a private collection in Berlin; (c) a pen case and ink bottle to be
carried on a scribe's belt (from Meder, p. 62, fig. 26).
set well back from the edge, and that edge which is held towards the painter is
cut out to fit around the elbow. This palette in particular is of a varying thickness
from one half to three quarters inch at the thumb hole side to about an eighth inch
at the opposite. This provides greater strength where the strain is greater and
gives a certain weight to the end which is shorter, allowing a balance to the whole.
Although these are the standard shapes commercially produced, there are doubt-
less variations according to the taste and invention of painters for whom the
standard product is not quite suitable.
In the past such variations of shape are too numerous for a specific record.
They are indicated by the paintings of studio interiors and by a few actual palettes
that have survived. The time at which a slab of wood for disposing and mixing
colors may first have been used is impossible of statement. There has probably
been some confusion between slabs used for mixing and those used for the grinding
of colors. It has been suggested, for instance, that the Egyptians had a palette
as early as predynastic times, but it appears that this was a piece of slate on which
face paint was ground. Berger (I and II, 27) saw a wooden palette in an Egyptian
painting which represents a painter at work. He does not, however, consider this