PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JOHN W. KLUGE SOLD TO BENEFIT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

A LARGE EGYPTIAN BRONZE CAT

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXI-XXII, 1070-712 B.C.

Details

A LARGE EGYPTIAN BRONZE CAT
THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXI-XXII, 1070-712 B.C.
Hollow cast, depicted seated with its long slender forepaws together, its tail curving forward around the proper right side, the tip of the tail extending beyond the paws, the head with alert erect ears, bisected by a vertical ridge on the interior, an oval recess between them for insertion of a separately-made and now-missing scarab, the almond-shaped eyes recessed for now-missing inlays, the nose ridged with the nostrils indented, the whiskers incised below, the mouth a horizontal groove
23½ in. (59.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, France, believed to be 1970s-early 1980s, or earlier.
with Jean-Loup Despras, Paris, 1989.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1990 (Masterworks in Bronze from the Ancient World); 1992 (Art of the Ancient World, vol. VII, Part I, no. 362).

Lot Essay

The cat was first domesticated in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom, likely for their mouse-hunting abilities. The earliest three-dimensional representation of a cat is an alabaster vessel now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 29 in Malek, The Cat in Ancient Egypt. By the New Kingdom, cats had become household companions, as seen on tomb paintings and reliefs, sometimes seated under their master's chair or on board marsh boats, presumably serving to flush out birds for their masters (see nos. 32-41 in Malek, op. cit.).

During the Third Intermediate Period, the cat came to be identified with the goddess Bastet. Her cult center was at Bubastis in the Nile Delta, and her cult rose to prominence during Dynasty XXII, whose rulers came from there. The cat presented here, which on stylistic ground dates to this period, is thought to be the largest of its kind to have survived from ancient Egypt.

More from Antiquities

View All