LATE PERIOD, CIRCA 664-332 B.C.

Although the majority of bronze images of cats from ancient Egypt depict the entire animal, hollow-cast heads of cats like this one are also well known, and probably attached to a wood statue or votive coffin. The decorations on this example of a scarab applied to the forehead and the lightly incised image of a falcon with sun disk and outstretched wings on the rear of this head reflect the solar associations of deities like Bastet and Sakhmet, as well as the feline aspect of Re, sometimes called the “Great Cat who dwells in Heliopolis.” For a related example, see fig. 104 in J. Malek, The Cat in Ancient Egypt.