Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0025
By Droux, Xavier
, Archaeological context unknown. 04.10.1927 : Found by Edward T. Whyte in Ballas. 1932 : Bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum.Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, E.372.1932.
Date : Naqada IIC–D (?)
Assumed date of type pal_bov_2b, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The upper part of the horns and most of the legs are missing.
Description
The palette has a mostly rounded shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The hartebeest is shown standing, with its head protruding directly from the body. A small hole is drilled through the back, likely for attaching a string or thong.
Decoration
The horns were thin and, in all likelyhood, lyre-shaped and seen frontally, as is characteristic for the hartebeest; a large, drilled hole separates them from one another. Details of the head are limited to the pointed ear that protrudes below the back horn, and the eye that is represented by a small, drilled depression; it is likely that both face of the palette were treated in the same manner. The legs are not sufficiently preserved to determine their shape. The tail is not indicated.
Dimensions (cm)
12.5
14
Additional information
pal_bov_2b
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.
