Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0023
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
10.1938 : Bought.Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, F 1938/10.26.
Date : Naqada IIA–B
General date of type pal_bov_2a, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The horns are missing; the lower part of the palette and the legs are heavily chipped.
Description
The palette has a mostly ovoid shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The hartebeest is shown standing (?), with its head reaching not much above the level of the back. A small hole is drilled through the back, likely for attaching a string or thong.
Decoration
The head is rendered in a simple way, without much detail. Both horns are broken off; the remains of a pierced hole between them is still visible, indicating that they were in all probability lyre-shaped and seen frontally, as is characteristic of the hartebeest. The eyes are represented by a hole pierced through the thickness of the palette; they may have been originally inlaid. The ear is not shown at the back of the head, and the muzzle is rather short and triangular; both aspects are unusual.
There is no hump on the back. The legs are broken off and it is difficult to determine their original shape. They may have been short, angular projections, but they are placed markedly higher on the body than the bottom of the belly. The outline of the belly may have been irregular and part of the edge of two pierced holes seem to be preserved (the author has only seen photographs of the piece, which would benefit from a close examination in order to clarify these details). The tail is not indicated.
Dimensions (cm)
8.5
14.5
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. In Droux (2019), the palette was only tentatively attributed to shape-group 2a; its authenticity is not certain.
References
1981
De Egyptische Oudheid: Een inleiding aan de hand van de Egyptische verzameling in het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden. The Hague
, no. 7.1995
Egyptisch kunsthandwerk. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden. Amsterdam
, 18-19, no. 2.2015
Egitto : splendore millenario : la collezione di Leiden a Bologna. Bologne
, cat. 1.7c.