Rectangular ‘palettes’ are a typical shape of marble vessel of the Early Cycladic I period. Those examples of the type which are of known provenance were recovered from graves, but the fact that some of them −like the one here− were broken in antiquity or have traces of wear on their use surface is an indication that prior to their deposition as grave goods accompanying the dead they had been used in daily life. These vessels seem to have been used for pulverizing or mixing pigments, a function corresponding to that also of some marble bowls.