Whether on the mummy cases and furnishings, or on the walls and columns of their architecture, colour was a salient factor in the expression of the Egyptian art, either in their symbols and hieroglyphics or in the pictorial representations of their daily life.

The colours used were limited to primaries of mineral origin: red from haematite, or yellow ochre, burnt to redness; cobalt and copper for blue; malachite for green; orpiment for bright yellow, and were all found in Egypt.

Egyptian fresco-work was practically distemper painting outlined by a vegetable black and in some cases a bone black. From researches made it would seem their mediums were egg and diluted vinegar, or gum arabic and glue. Practically it was a fresco medium, and the same as used later by the Greeks. Some of these colours have come down to us from painted hieroglyphs and details of temples belonging to the early dynasties of Egypt, some 4,000-3,000 years B.C. and doubtless owed their brilliance and lasting qualities to the absence of rain in the Nile Valley.

Although the Egyptians used only primary colours they succeeded by the use of white in obtaining many degrees of these colours. Purple, however, was used in their potteries and dyes.

In the pictorial wall paintings revealed in recent times, chiaroscuro is absent but its effects have in part been obtained by hatching in greys and blacks. Pure primaries were often toned down by being applied to modelled surfaces which thus softened their crudeness.