CIRCA 6TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A LARGE EGYPTIAN LEADED BRONZE FIGURE OF A CAT
CIRCA 6TH CENTURY B.C.
Hollow, seated with head alert, the striated ears upright and pierced, tail curled round its right paw, mounted, with glazed wooden display case
15¾ in. (40 cm.) high

Provenance

In the collection of the present owner's grandfather, Jakob Koller, who lived in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note that the lots of Iranian origin are subject to U.S. trade restrictions which currently prohibit the import into the United States. Similar restrictions may apply in other countries.

Lot Essay

The apparent high lead content is consistent with other bronzes especially of the Late Period. Cf. L. M. Berman, Catalogue of Egyptian Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999, p. 438, no. 338 for a leaded bronze alloy cat.

The cat was the personification of the goddess Bastet in her more peaceful feline form, and her main centre of worship was at Bubastis in the eastern Delta. Bastet was the 'Eye of Re' (the sun-god) as well as the 'Eye of the moon'. In the Pyramid Texts she appears as a mother and nurse of the king; in the Coffin Texts she protects the deceased. As 'the cat of Re' she destroys the serpent Apophis. In the Late Period, cemeteries of mummified cats were found at Saqqaara as well as at Bubastis. The festival of Bastet, as described by Herodotus, was a very popular and licentious celebration.

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