NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, 1550-1295 B.C.

This cosmetic spoon is finely carved with the handle in the form of a leopard or cheetah, catching a fish. The fish has a shallow depression to one side that was generally used for the preparation and presentation of cosmetic substances. The ancient Egyptians considered the leopard or cheetah to be versions of the same animal. Although leopards and cheetahs are now largely extinct in Egypt, both animals were common in ancient Egypt. See Acc. no. 11.215.715 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a similar, although more fragmentary, spoon in alabaster, and accession number EA5945 at the British Museum for a wooden cosmetic-spoon; the handle in the form of a dog which bites the tail of the fish.