BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern
BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern
Property from a Swiss Private Collection
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FIGURE OF A CAT, 21ST/26TH DYNASTY, 1075-525 B.C.
Lot Closed
July 9, 02:03 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Swiss Private Collection
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FIGURE OF A CAT, 21ST/26TH DYNASTY, 1075-525 B.C.
seated with the tail curled around to the front, with finely modeled face and large round eyes, and wearing an incised beaded collar with Eye of Horus pectoral, the ears pierced for earrings.
Height without tenons 14.3 cm
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Leo Biaggi de Blasys (1906-1979), Lugano
by descent to the present owner
Some bronze cast statues of cats were created to house mummified cats and subsequently offered to the feline goddess Bastet at her temple at Bubastis. Pilgrims traveling to Bubastis were able to purchase these cat caskets & mummies to give as votive offerings once they arrived at the temple complex. Unlike Sekhmet, the fearsome lion headed goddess of war and plague, cat-headed Bastet was the goddess of the domestic sphere, making the cat (originally domesticated by the Egyptians in the Middle Kingdom) an apt avatar.