Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0015
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
1871 : Bought from Rev. Greville J. Chester.London, British Museum, EA 35049.
Date : Naqada IIA–B
General date of type pal_bov_2a, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
Tip of the horns missing; chips on edges.
Description
The palette has a mostly ovoid shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The hartebeest is shown standing, with its head in a low position protruding toward the front. A small hole is drilled through the back, likely for attaching a string or thong.
Decoration
The head is rendered in a very simple way, without much detail. Both horns are missing their tip, yet enough is preserved to determine that they were seen frontally, with a hole drilled through the palette dividing the right and left horns. They were lyre-shaped: after progressing first outward, they curve back inwards, without connecting to one another above the hole, and their tip pointed again outward, as is characteristic of the hartebeest. The eyes are represented by pierced discs of (ostrich ?) eggshell set either in depressions drilled on both sides, or in a hole pierced through the thickness of the palette. A small, triangular ear projects backward below the horn. The mouth is indicated by a small incision at the tip of the muzzle.
There is a marked hump at the back before the junction with the neck. The legs appear as two simple, rounded protuberances. The tail is not indicated.
Dimensions (cm)
14.3
28.6
Additional information
pal_bov_2a
Comments
Palettes of shape-type pal_bov_2 are all carved in the shape of the hartebeest, although identification is sometimes tentative; sub-type 2a seems to pre-date sub-type 2b; see Droux (2019); this assumption is based on stylistic considerations since no palette of sub-type 2b comes from a known, precise archaeological context.
