Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0581
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
Before 1878 : Acquired by the museum.Florence, Museo Egizio, 5331.
Date : Naqada IIA–B
General date of type pal_bov_2a, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The tip of both horns is missing; small chips on the edges and pitting on the surface of one side.
Description
The palette has a mostly ovoid shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The hartebeest is shown standing, with the tip of the horns likely just reaching 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 very simple way, without much detail deside a small notch at the extremity of the muzzle representing the mouth. Both horns are broken off, yet enough is preserved to determine that they were seen frontally, with a hole drilled through the palette dividing the right and left horns. They were lyre-shaped: after progressing first outward, the horns curved back inwards, without connecting to one another above the hole, and their tip pointed again outward, as is characteristic of the hartebeest. A hole drilled on each side of the palette represents the eye; it was perhaps originally inlaid. A small, triangular ear projects backward below the horn.
There is a marked hump at the back before the junction with the neck. The legs appear as two simple, small, angular protuberances. The tail is not indicated.
Dimensions (cm)
13
23.5
Additional information
pal_bov_2a
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Renée Friedman for bringing this artefact to our attention, and Maria Cristina Guidotti for sharing infromatiion about it.