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LOT 0520
Egyptian Faience Bastet Cat Amulet Collection
NEW KINGDOM, 1550-1070 B.C. AND LATER
1 7/8 - 2 in. (83 grams total, 47-52 mm including stands).
Pale yellow, turquoise, and blue faience seated cat figures, each shown on a base plinth and with a suspension loop behind the head. [3]
ProvenanceCollection of a Lady, circa 1940.
From a specialist collection.
Cf. Lacovara, P., and Markowitz, Y.J., Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester MA, 2020, pp. 108-109, for examples of similar cat amulets.
FootnotesIn ancient Egypt, the cat was revered as the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, whose main cult centre was Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Although cats were once part of folk customs, their formal worship expanded across Egypt during the Late Period. Bastet was closely connected to lion-headed goddesses such as Sekhmet, Tefnut, and Pakhet, and the cat itself became linked to solar imagery: the Book of the Dead depicts the sun god as a Great Cat defeating Apophis beneath the sacred Ished Tree. The cat could also represent the Eye of the Sun or, more commonly in Bastet’s case, the Eye of the Moon. Mummified cats were often offered as votive offerings, and some were decorated with finely crafted bronze heads to emphasise their divine likeness.
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LOT 0520
Egyptian Faience Bastet Cat Amulet Collection
Estimate £1,200 - 1,700€1,390 - 1,970 (for guidance only)$1,620 - 2,300 (for guidance only)
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Egyptian Blue and Ochre Faience Shabti
Late Period, 4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Plano-convex in section with mould-formed facial detailing, crossed arms and agricultural tools. 12.9 grams, 67 mm
Ex private collection, London, UK, 1970s-1990s. -
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Egyptian Faience Mahes Amulet
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £140
Standing figure of the lion-headed god wearing the atef crown and a uraeus, arms slightly forward; with dorsal pillar and rectangular base; pierced for suspension. 1.43 grams, 27 mm
Ex early 20th century collection, London, UK.
Mahes was an Egyptian lion-headed deity symbolising divine protection, royal power, and justice. Considered a son of Sekhmet or Bastet, he represented the aggressive solar force of Ra, serving as a fierce defender of cosmic order. Venerated in the Delta, especially at Leontopolis, Mahes was depicted as a lion or as a man with a lion's head, often adorned with the atef-crown and uraeus. -
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Egyptian Bronze Statue of Isis with Inscribed Base
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,330
Seated figure of the goddess, wearing a vulture headdress from which the bird’s head projects, topped by a crown consisting of a low modius of rearing cobras, surmounted by cow horns and a central sun disk; a tight-fitting three-quarter-length dress; shown suckling the naked infant Horus, with a uraeus at his brow; the goddess’s feet rest on a plinth, of which two sides are inscribed with a dedication, only partially preserved: (May) Isis give life (to) Wennenefer [......] Ankh-hor-(en)-sa (Ꜣst rdı͗ Ꜥnḫ wn n nfr [……] ꜥnḫ ḥr (n) sꜢ (?)). 875 grams, 22.1 cm including stand
From the estate of Alexander Dobkin (1908-1975), New York, USA, acquired prior to 1975. Thence by descent to his daughter, Katherine Dobkin, New York, USA.
Isis, one of the principal goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon, was revered as divine mother, protector of kingship, and mistress of magic. As the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, she embodied maternal care, resurrection, and cosmic order, playing a central role in myths of death and renewal. Isis lactans statuettes emphasise this intimate maternal relationship and its protective and regenerative power; such bronzes were widely dedicated in temples and domestic shrines as votive objects invoking divine protection, healing, and royal legitimacy. The lacuna in the inscription on this example most likely supplied the filiation between the two named individuals.
