EGYPTIAN STONE PENDANT IN THE FORM OF ORYX HEADS WITH ENGRAVED. CIRCA: PREDYNASTIC PERIOD, NAQADA II

拍品描述

AN EGYPTIAN STONE PENDANT IN THE FORM OF PAIRED ORYX HEADS, EGYPT, PREDYNASTIC PERIOD, NAQADA II-III, CIRCA 3500-3000 B.C. Of flattened lozenge form tapering to a pointed lower terminal, carved from a mottled stone of variegated russet, cream and buff tones with veining running through the body. The upper edge is surmounted by two addorsed animal heads, each identified as an oryx by the elongated muzzle, incised almond eye, and the swept-back curving horn laid along the crown. Each head is pierced through the neck with a suspension hole of substantial diameter, allowing the pendant to hang with both heads uppermost. The body of the pendant carries faint incised markings across its surface, including what appears to be a herringbone or feather-like linear motif descending the central axis, though weathering and the natural figuring of the stone make these engravings difficult to read in places. The paired oryx is a recurring subject in Predynastic material culture, appearing on slate palettes, ivory combs, and small carved amulets recovered from cemetery contexts in Upper Egypt. The oryx belonged to the desert margin, the liminal zone between the cultivated Nile valley and the arid lands beyond, and animals of this environment carried associations with wildness, hunting, and the forces that surrounded settled life. Paired or addorsed animal heads on Predynastic objects, whether of oryx, bird, or bovid, appear to have functioned within a symbolic vocabulary in which duality and symmetry themselves carried meaning, though the specific readings remain a matter of scholarly discussion. The choice of a variegated hardstone for a personal ornament of this scale is consistent with the elevated status of stone-working in the Naqada II-III phases, when Egyptian lapidaries were producing cosmetic palettes, mace heads, and vessels in a range of exotic and figured stones drawn from the Eastern Desert and further afield. The technical demands of shaping and drilling such material with copper and abrasive tools were considerable, and pendants of this type are found in burials of individuals whose grave goods indicate standing within their communities. The suspension holes are drilled from both faces, meeting near the centre, which is the standard technique of the period. This pendant exemplifies the Predynastic tradition in which the amuletic ornament, the representation of a desert animal, and the working of figured stone converge in a single small object. Its interest lies in the survival of a recognisable iconographic type from the formative centuries preceding the unification of Egypt, and in the continuity of the paired-animal motif that would carry forward into the dynastic repertoire. Dimensions: Height 5.5 cm

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