Today’s first comb comes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Made 5200 years ago, it comprises part of the funeral equipment of an elite citizen. The comb’s teeth are missing, but can be seen at the bottom of the piece.

An unkown artist carved this ivory in great detail, portraying lines of ceremonial animals in horizontal rows. This design was familiar in later Egyptian art. You can see elephants, snakes, wading birds, a giraffe, hyenas, and cattle.

The arrangement and choice of animals were not haphazard. Elephants treading on snakes follow the mythologies African peoples, who associate them with the creation of the universe. The top row might feature a creative deity, to whom the animals owe their existence.

As great comb art is a common element in every culture since the beginning of time, our next comb comes from the Solomon Islands of Australia. The comb’s curve was made by a flattened hand. Twenty-five dark-brown tapered wooden prongs form the teeth. The top is held together with thin strings of woven plant fiber, creating compatible red and yellow geometric patterns. There are no religions or hierarchies in this piece, where the Egyptian one is devoted to them.

Great artists make things from what they see in their world. You can look at a comb and understand what kinds of lives they lived.