Female Eye ornamented with Kohl. (1. From a mod- ern specimen, 2. From the Paintings on the Egyptian Monuments.)
PAINT
538
PAINTING
(Juv. ii, 94, " Obliqua producit acu ;" Pliny, Ep, vi, 2). The term used for the application of the dj-e was, as above noted, L-(ichdl,^'to smear;" and llabbinical writ- ers described the paint itself under a cognate term (Mishna, Sabb. viii, 3). These words still survive in ko/i/, the modern Oriental name for the powder used. The Bible gives no indication of the substance out of which the clye was formed. If any conclusion were de- ducible from the evident affinity between the Hebrew puk, the Greek (puKoc, and the hat'in fucus, it would be to the effect that the dye was of a vegetable kind. Such a dye is at the present daj' produced from the henna plant (Lawsonia inermis), and is extensively ap- plied to the hands and the hair (Russell, A leppo, i, 109, 110). But the old versions (the Sept., Chaldee, Syriac, etc.), agree in pronouncing the dye to have been pro- duced from antimony, the ver\' name of which (nrij^i, stibium) probably owed its currency in the ancient world to this circumstance, the name itself and the application of the substance having both emanated from Egypt. This mineral was imported into Egypt for the purpose. One of the pictures at Bcni Hassan represents the arri- val of a party of traders in stibium. The powder made from antimony has always been supposed to have a bene- ficial effect on the eyesight (Pliny, xxxiii, 34). An- timony is still used for the purpose in Arabia (Burck- hardt, Tracds, i, 37G) and in Persia (Morier, Second Jounu'i/, p. Gl), though lead is also used in the latter country (Russell, i, 36G); but in Egypt the kohl is a soot produced by burning either a kind of frankincense or the shells of almonds (Lane, i, 61). The dye-stuff was moistened with oil, and kept in a small jar, which we may infer to have been made of horn, from the proper name Keren-happuch, ''horn for paint" (Job xliii, 14). The probe with which it was applied was made either of wood, silver, or ivory, and had a blunted point. Both the probe and the jar have frequently been discovered in Egyptian tombs (Wilkinson, ii, 344). In addition to
Ancient Egyptian Vespcls for holding Kohl, and Instru- ments used in applying it. (From epecinieus in the British Museum.)
the passages referring to eye-paint already quoted from the Bible, we may notice probable allusions to the prftc- tice in Prov. vi, 25, and Isa. iii, IG, the term rendered " wanton" in the last passage bearing the radical sense of painted. The contrast between the black paint and the white of the eye led to the transfer of the term puk to describe the variegated stones used in the string- courses of a handsome building (1 Chron. xxix, 2; A.Y. "glistering stones,'" \\t. sloim of eye-paint) ; and, again, the dark cement in which marble or other bright stones were imbedded (Isa. liv, 11 ; A.Y, " I will lay thy stones with fair colors"). Whether the custom of staining the liands and feet, particularly the nails, now so prevalent in the East, was known to the Hebrews, is doubtful. The plant, henna, which is used for that purpose was certainly known (Cant, i, 14; A. V. "camphire"), and the expressions in Cant, v, 14 may probably refer to the custom (Smith). AVith reference to this custom of "painting the eyes" in the East, Thomson remarks: " The ladies blacken the eyelids and brows with kohl, and prolong the application in a decreasing pencil, so as
to lengthen and reduce the eye in appearance to what is called almond shape. It imparts a peculiar brilliancy to the eye, and a languishing, amorous cast to the whole countenance. Brides are thus painted, and many heighten the effect by application to the cheeks of colored cosmetics. The powder from which the kohl is made is collected from burning almond-shells or frank- incense, and is intensely black. Antimony and various ores of lead are also employed. The powder is kept in vials or pots, which are often disposed in a handsome cover or case; and it is applied to the eye by a small probe of wood or ivory, or silver, called rneel, while the whole apparatus is called mukhuly" {Land and Book, ii, 184, 185). See Eyk.
:Modern Oriental Apparatus for "Painting the Eyes.'
Painter, George, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Shenandoah Co., Va., Feb. 14, 1795; graduated at Greenville College, Teini.; studied divinity at the South- Western Theological Seminary, Mary ville, Tenn.; was licensed by Marion Presbytery Sept. 24, 1823, and ordained April IG, 1824. In addition to his labors as a minister, he taught school till 1832 in Wythe Co., Va. About that time he took charge of the congregation of Anchor and Hope and Draper Valley, and afterwards New Dublin, Va., and remained with these three churches till his death, Feb. 20, 18G3. Mr. Painter was a man of sterling worth and great personal influence. He was one of the pioneers of Presbyterianism in that part of Virginia. As such he practiced great self-denial in the work of the Master — his labors being constant and devoted in teaching and preaching. See Wilson, Presb. [list. A Imanac, 18G7, p. 448. (J. L. S.)