The eyebrows of the Hathor heads have lost their original articulation, which may have been in gold or silver fillings.

A common enough kind of loss, when different materials are used together (note the loss of the glass paste and enamel elsewhere), no doubt caused by the differing rates of expansion and contraction of the materials (bronze/wood/paste) when subjected to changes in temperature and/or humidity for a few thousand years --and the unfortunate lack of superglue to hold them in place.

I wonder on what basis Benediti speculates that the eyebrows were in a precious metal rather than just glass paste (like the eyes would have been)?

After all, it was the eyes --and not the brows-- which "animated" the figure's face.

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Note added at 17 hrs (2017-04-25 13:59:59 GMT)
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Thinking about it (and seeing Angela's use of the term in another context), I think that describing the eyebrows as being articulated by *inlays of gold or silver* would be better than my "fillings."

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Note added at 1 day18 hrs (2017-04-26 15:11:17 GMT)
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Once again there is the problem of whether to go with an accurate translation of Bénéditi's text or to provide a clearer (but perhaps less literal) description of the object (and/or technique) which he is trying to describe.

Seems to me that features such as eyebrows in Egyptian metalwork were almost invariably created by inserting something --usually mastic (because its black color was most appropriate)-- into deep groves above the eyes, e.g.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bf/73/75/bf73...

https://img1.etsystatic.com/019/1/5404265/il_570xN.481582309...

here the mastic (or colored glass paste) has, perhaps, fallen out of the metal grooves, no doubt due to drying and shrinking over many centuries:

http://www.angelfire.com/me3/egyptgoddess/CURIO/Gold_Hathor....

And, of course, the most famous example of them all:

http://caymancode.com/wp-content/uploads/ph/thumb-photocairo...

No matter what the medium was, eyebrows were *always* articulated (since the Egyptians were really, really into *heavy* make up), but not necessarily with insertions/inlays of mastic (or anything else):

https://img1.etsystatic.com/019/1/5404265/il_570xN.481582309...

( Btw, there is no reason not to believe that most stone representations of faces were not painted, complete with black eyebrows:

http://www.crystalinks.com/HathorTemple.jpg )

As I mentioned, Bénéditi's speculation that the inlays on this (bronze, remember) Hathor face were in gold or silver seems to me to be very improbable --there would have been virtually no color contrast if they were in gold, and silver only turned to gray/black after a considerable period of tarnishing.

But it makes no difference what I (or anyone else) thinks: Bénéditi says they were in gold or silver --and the translator's job is to accurately translate the text, with as little interpretation as possible (and *no* judgements added).

So, if Bénéditi says that a Middle Kingdom wooden handle was turned on a lathe --in spite of the fact that there seems to be no evidence at all that the Egyptians had lathes before the end of the Late Period-- that's *it*, End of Story.

Otherwise, how are later "scholars" to smugly point out his errors if they only use a translation which is not accurate? (Of course, why "scholars" would use a translation at all is another question entirely.)

Bénéditi was one of the foremost Egyptologists of his day (after all, he did die shortly after visiting the newly discovered tomb of King Tut), and his understanding of the artifacts of this quite astonishing civilization are of great historiographic importance --warts and all.

The job of the translator is to translate the text *as it is written* (and as best she can understand what the hell it is that he is trying to say).

Sorry to belabor the point, but I think that it is an important one to keep in mind --in this particular job as well as all others.