Palette – zoomorphic, Barbary sheep PAL-0008
By Droux, Xavier
, Tomb N95.
1894–1895 : William M.F. Petrie excavation.London, Petrie Museum, UC4704.
Date : Naqada IIC–D
Date fo the funerary assemblage.
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Fragmentary
Preservation information :
Repaired, head missing.
Description
This is a rather small example of a palette shaped as a Barbary-sheep. The animal has an ovoid silhouette; it is shown in a recumbent positition. The palette is not drilled for suspension, which is unusual.
Decoration
Since the head is missing, it is not possible to identify the species with certainty. There seems to be no remains of the horns on the preserved part of the neck and no chest mane was indicated at the front of the palette. Yet the manner of showing the legs folded under the body, with well-carved details of the hooves, indicates that the Barbary sheep might have been the intended species by comparison with other palettes of type pal_bov_1b.
Dimensions (cm)
9.2
11.8
Additional information
pal_bov_1b
Comments
Palettes of shape-type pal_bov_1 are all carved in the shape of the Barbary sheep; sub-type 1a pre-dates sub-type 1b; see Droux (2019).
References
1920
Prehistoric Egypt. British School of Archaeology in Egypt & Egyptian Research Account, twenty-third year, 1917. London
, pl. XLIII, no. 4V.