Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0031
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown
London, Petrie Museum, UC 15770.
Date : Naqada IIC–D (?)
Assumed date of type pal_bov_2b, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The back horn is missing, and the back leg is damaged.
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 did not connect again before their tips point outward. Details of the head are limited to the pointed ear that protrudes below the back horn. The eyes are not represented. The muzzle narrows in its middle before widening at the snout. The legs are short, with carved, stylised details of the hoofs. The tail is indicated by a line incised along the edge of the backside.
Dimensions (cm)
13.8
17.3
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.
References
1920
Prehistoric Egypt. British School of Archaeology in Egypt & Egyptian Research Account, twenty-third year, 1917. London
, pl. XLIII, 4N.