Hunter palette
| Hunter palette | |
|---|---|
 "Hunter's Palette", reconstructed from fragments that are in the British Museum and the Louvre .
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| material | Greywacke |
| Dimensions | L. 66.8 cm; W. 25.7 cm; |
| origin | Middle Egypt , Tell el-Amarna |
| time | Predynastic Period , Naqada III , around 3100 BC Chr. |
| place |
London , British Museum, EA 20790, EA 20792 Paris , Louvre, E 11254 |
The hunter palette, also known as the lion hunt palette ( English Hunter's palette or Lion's hunt palette ) is a decorated palette from the Predynastic Period of Egypt (around 3,100 BC).
The object is named after the complex and artistically executed depiction of an early Egyptian hunt , but has not yet been clearly interpreted . It is an artifact that is relevant to hunting history and human history , and is one of the earliest examples of relief-decorated ornate palettes of this style.
Site and dating
According to the British Museum , the pallet was found in Tell el-Amarna . The British Museum in London now owns two fragments and the Louvre in Paris owns a third .
The artifact is mutually dated to the Naqada III epoch (the end of the predynastic period of Egypt, around 3,100 BC).
description
The Jäger palette is made from greywacke , measures a total of 66.8 × 25.7 cm and tapers conically on one side.
Top
The top of the pallet is dominated by a circular depression with a clearly raised hem. Its practical purpose is not clear, but it is mostly assumed that it was intended for make-up or anointing oil . A complex relief decoration is arranged around the recess . It shows a group of hunters , dressed in robes and adorned with belts , to which animal tails are attached. Her hairstyle ( pointed beards and a hairstyle similar to today's dreadlocks ) indicates that she is a Nubian . There are ostrich feathers in their hair . Weapons they carry throwing wood , double-bladed ax , spear , bow and arrow , pear-headed ornate clubs and lassos . Some of the hunters carry small shields or food bags with them. The hunt for desert animals such as lions , gazelles , hares and ostriches is shown. The hunter figures are lined up along the edge of the palette, while the majority of the animals are shown near the center of the picture. Both groups carry standards with the same totem animals . Three canids also intervene in the hunt . It is unclear whether it is hunting dogs , which drive the prey to the hunters, or jackals , which accidentally get into the hunting scene and are themselves hunting prey. At the top of the palette is a domed shrine with a two-headed bull to the right . Opposite is a second lion killed by arrows.
bottom
The underside of the palette is unadorned and there is no evidence that decoration was intended.
Interpretations
The image program of the Jäger palette raises the question of whether it is a representation of a historical event or an expression of a mythology . Beatrix Midant-Reynes , referring to the work of Roland Tefnin, emphasizes the pictorial arrangement of an early dynastic hunt, compared to similar depictions, for example in the “Painted Grave” in Hierakonpolis or on the so-called two-dog palette .
Whitney Davis, on the other hand, thinks that a hunt as a social event contains a striking number of cultic elements, for example the god standards and the shrine / temple. Davis sees a first version of later popular, symbolic representations of the triumph of man over nature in the image program: The lion represents violence, the fleeing animals the chaos and the hunters the order chosen and created by man (Egyptian Maat ).
Even Nicolas-Christophe Grimal sees the scene to pictorially converted desire for mastery of the forces of nature in order to preserve the man-made world order. He compares the two-headed bull with the two cow faces on the Narmer palette and sees it as a pictogram for the goddess Bat .
literature
- Whitney Davis: Masking the Blow: The Scene of Representation in Late Prehistoric Egyptian Art (= California studies in the history of art. Volume 30). University of California Press, Berkeley 1992, ISBN 0-520-07488-2 , pp. 93-119.
- Nicolas-Christophe Grimal: A history of ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, London 1996, ISBN 0-631-19396-0 , p. 39.
- Beatrix Midant-Reynes: The prehistory of Egypt from the first Egyptians to the first pharaohs. Wiley-Blackwell, London 2000, ISBN 0-631-21787-8 , pp. 239-246.
Web links
- The British Museum: The Hunters Palette
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b British Museum, catalog number EA 20790, material description for the Jäger range
- ↑ a b Louvre, catalog number E 11254 Le Fragment de la palette de la chasse
- ^ Francesco Raffaele: The Hunters Palette (Lion Hunt palette) . On: xoomer.virgilio.it ; last accessed on June 25, 2017.
- ↑ These "shields" are not accepted by all researchers, as they would have been more of a hindrance than a useful hunt.