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Lot Essay
Carved stone palettes decorated with addorsed antelopes or oryxes are especially known from the Naqada culture of Predynastic Egypt. As with the so-called “White Oryx” palette in Cairo (inv. no. JE 60579, see W.M.F. Petrie, Ceremonial Slate Palettes, pls. H23–H24), most examples feature the horned animals arranged symmetrically but facing inward (see the fragment in Brooklyn, inv. no. 35.1272, in W. Needler, Predynastic and Archaic Egypt in the Brooklyn Museum, no. 265). The animals on the present example – depicted only as outward-facing heads with curving horns – recall a class of shield-shaped palettes whose opposing terminals take the form of birds’ heads; that type is attested into Naqada III (see an example from Abu Zaidan, no. 260 in Needler, op. cit.).
Although its original significance remains uncertain, the oryx carried ambivalent symbolism in the later Pharaonic era: it could appear both on the prow of the divine barque of the god Sokar as well as in association with Seth, the god of chaos and desert regions. The oryx was also emblematic of the 16th nome of Upper Egypt, corresponding to the region of modern el-Minya. For a detailed overview of oryx representations, see Å. Strandberg, The Gazelle in Ancient Egyptian Art: Image and Meaning.
Although its original significance remains uncertain, the oryx carried ambivalent symbolism in the later Pharaonic era: it could appear both on the prow of the divine barque of the god Sokar as well as in association with Seth, the god of chaos and desert regions. The oryx was also emblematic of the 16th nome of Upper Egypt, corresponding to the region of modern el-Minya. For a detailed overview of oryx representations, see Å. Strandberg, The Gazelle in Ancient Egyptian Art: Image and Meaning.