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LOT 0568
Egyptian Blue Faience Bastet Cat Amulet
NEW KINGDOM, CIRCA 1550-1070 B.C.
1 in. (3.25 grams, 28 mm).
Modelled seated on a tongue-shaped base, with simple facial detailing and suspension loop to the back.
ProvenanceEx London gallery and Belinda Elliston, a member of the Egyptian Exploration Society, 1940s onwards.
LiteratureCf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, item 29(c).
FootnotesIn ancient Egypt, the cat was venerated as the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, whose principal cult centre was Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Although cats were once part of folk practice, their veneration as part of formal cults spread across Egypt during the Late Period. Bastet was closely linked to lion-headed goddesses like Sekhmet, Tefnut, and Pakhet, and the cat itself became associated with solar imagery: the Book of the Dead portrays the sun god as a Great Cat vanquishing Apophis beneath the sacred Ished Tree. The cat could also embody the Eye of the Sun or, more often in Bastet’s case, the Eye of the Moon. Mummified cats were frequently dedicated as votive offerings, and some of their feline-shaped coffins were adorned with finely crafted bronze heads to enhance their divine likeness.
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Egyptian Silver Fly Amulet
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
With detailing to wings and eyes, pierced for suspension through the head. 0.80 grams, 16 mm
From a gentleman's family collection, 2000s. -
Egyptian Multi-Stranded Mummy Bead Necklace
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
A four-strand designer necklace composed of polychrome beads of mainly annular and tubular types. 22.9 grams, 82 cm
Acquired before 1979. From the private collection of Mr F.A., South Kensington, London, UK; thence by descent 2014.
For thousands of years, artisans in Egypt created vibrant ceramics to echo the beauty of rare jewels. These ornaments were created with almost every material, colour, and texture imaginable and they come from across Egypt and beyond: vibrant blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, glossy black obsidian from Turkey, and aqua-green turquoise from the Sinai. They were worn in life and, after death, they served as precious ornamentation for mummies. -
Phoenician Bronze Statuette of Baal
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Modelled striding on an oval base, wearing a long kilt, broad collar, short wig and tall headdress, his right hand raised and touching the headdress; remains of suspension loop behind the headdress. 21.4 grams, 71 mm
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
The raised arm of this figure would originally have held a spear characteristic of Inhert.
