Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 0507
Egyptian Bronze Goddess Bastet as Seated Cat
LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
4 in. (137 grams total, 10 cm high including stand).
A bronze figure of the cat goddess Bastet, squatting poised and alert with her tail wrapped close to right side of her body, seated on a tongue-shaped base, short lug below; accompanied by a custom-made display base.
Provenance
Acquired 1980s.
Private collection of L.H., Staffordshire, UK.
Property of a Sussex, UK, teacher.
Literature
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession numbers 2021.41.166 and 44.4.9, for similar; Tiribilli, E., The bronze figurines of the Petrie Museum from 2000 BC to AD 400, London, 2018, p.190, no.268, for similar.
Footnotes
Bastet was a powerful goddess of Lower Egypt, one who was protective and could bring about great prosperity.
Cat statuettes were among some of the most common zoomorphic dedications of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. Small statuettes like this one would have been dedicated as offerings to temples or deposited in catacombs alongside cat mummies, as at the extensive catacombs at Bubastis and Saqqara. Sometimes larger hollow examples held a cat mummy inside.
VETTING:
TimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
RELATED LOTS
-
Egyptian Faience Figure of Thoth
26th Dynasty, 664-525 B.C.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,000
A pale green glazed composition figure of Thoth in ibis-head form, plain dorsal pillar, pleated kilt, tripartite wig; old collector's inked accession number 'E.1000' to the reverse; repaired. 44.7 grams, 88 mm high
Ex Roger Liechti collection, Geneva, Switzerland. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11595-199013.
One of the most prominent of the ancient Egyptian gods, Thoth was associated with writing, magic and wisdom, and was credited with founding a number of branches of knowledge including law, religion and science. He is believed to have been self-created or grown from the seed of Horus from the forehead of Set. As the son of the gods of order and chaos, he was also the god of equilibrium. As such, he was considered a just and infallible judge. Worshipped from the Pre-Dynastic to the Ptolemaic Period, Thoth was one of the longest, continuously worshipped gods from any civilisation. Thoth's Egyptian name was Djehuty (also dhwty) meaning ‘He Who is Like the Ibis’, a sacred bird in ancient Egypt as well as a popular pet associated with wisdom. -
Large Egyptian Body of Horus-Harpocrates
Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
An acephalic seated bronze nude statuette of Horus-Harpocrates, legs held together and arms by his side, semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing; cleaned. 993 grams, 22.5 cm high
Collection of Brugsch Pasha (1842-1930). with Hotel Drouot, Paris, 30 September 1997, lot 643. Ex property of Mr Naudy. Property of a French collector. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11601-198618. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, was considered a solar deity who overcame darkness and defeated the chaotic forces of his evil uncle, the god Seth. Egyptian Pharaohs considered themselves to be reincarnations of Horus. In his youthful form, Horus the child embodies the new sun and all associated benefits. In Graeco-Roman Egypt he became Harpocrates, son of Serapis and Isis, the deity-symbol of rebirth and fertility, perhaps the most popular deity to be represented in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. -
Egyptian and Other Faience and Hardstone Bead Collection
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £156
A mixed group of mainly faience, glass, shell and stone polychrome beads of various types and dates. 120 grams total, 2-23 mm
Acquired in the 1970s. Important European collection.
