Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest (?) PAL-0033
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
1909 : Bought at Casire, Cairo.Brussels, Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, E.2826.
Date : Naqada IIA–D (?)
Assumed date of type pal_bov_2, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Description
The palette has a mostly ovoid shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The antelope (hartebeest?) is perhaps shown standing, with its head in a low position. A small hole is drilled through the back, likely for attaching a string or thong. The stone contains unusual, white inclusions.
Decoration
The silhouette of this animal is very unusual, with a much larger, rounded back side than usual; it is, to some extent, egg-shaped. The horns were likely shown frontally with a drilled hole separating them from one another: this may suggest that they were lyre-shaped, which is characteristic for the hartebeest, but they are not sufficiently preserved to ascertain their original shape.
Beside the horns, details of the head are limited to a pointy, 'beak'-like muzzle. The eyes are not represented by the usual drilled depression, but the carver seems to have taken advantage of a small, circular white inclusion in the stone in order to represent the eye on one side of the palette, without having to spend the effort drilling it.
Dimensions (cm)
8.4
14.2
0.5
Additional information
Acknowledgements
We thank Dirk Huyge for facilitating the study of this artefact.