Hunters Palette

Notice the equipment carried by the hunters and the wounded lions among the animals. Human figures, weapons and prey make this a busy image on a narrow surface. The carving belongs to the Naqada III period, near the beginning of Egypt’s dynastic history. The surviving work is assembled from pieces. Two ancient fragments in the British Museum are joined with a cast of a third portion in the Louvre. The cast lets your eye follow the composition across a gap in the London collection. Read the joins as part of the object’s present form. Its place of discovery is less secure than the old registration might suggest. Amarna appears in the acquisition history, but that provenance has been questioned. That uncertainty limits what we can say about where the palette was first used or buried. The hunters themselves remain sharply observable. Follow one figure’s weapon and posture before stepping back to see how the group fills the stone.