Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0029
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown
Brussels, Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, E.2181.
Date : Naqada IIC–D (?)
Assumed date of type pal_bov_2b, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The tips of both legs are broken off.
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 are thin, lyre-shaped, and seen frontally, as is characteristic for the hartebeest. A large, drilled hole separates them from one another and they connect again before their tips point outward. The ears, eyes, and tail are not indicated. The legs are short.
Dimensions (cm)
10.1
12.8
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.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dirk Huyge for facilitating the study of this artefact.
References
1990
La civilisation de Nagada, in: Musées de Marseille (ed.), L'Egypte des millénaires obscurs. Paris
, 70, cat. 341.2000
24. Palette à fard en forme de quadrupède, in: Karlshausen, Christiana, and De Putter, Thierry, Pierres égyptiennes... chefs-d'oeuvre pour l'éternité. Mons
.
