Kohl Containers

Ivory, Sudan

Leather, Nigeria

Bronze and enamel, possibly India

Brass bird-figure, India

Collected and donated by Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson in 1917; 1917.25.89
Collected by W. J. Newman and donated by Richard Carnac Temple in 1911; 1911.45.53
Bequeathed by Estella Louisa Michaela Canziani in 1965; 1965.9.131
Donated by W. C. Benett in 1893; 1893.45.5

Kohl was considered an important part of a person's toilet and it was valued so highly that it was even used as a form of currency in Middle Eastern trade.

It was stored in seashells in earliest times but later, special containers were made from various materials. Here you can see containers of ivory, bone or horn encased in leather, brass, and bronze from Africa and India, which have been fashioned into decorative shapes and forms. Archaeologists in Egypt have found kohl pots in tombs in the shapes of palm trees and monkeys, the latter being a popular pet amongst Egyptians.