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Back to previous pageLOT 0447
Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
LATE-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
3/8 in. (0.34 grams, 8 mm).
Seated figure of a cat with pointed ears mounted on a rectangular base with a rounded end; suspension loop on the back. [No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
From an early 20th century collection.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, item 29(c).
FOOTNOTES:
The cat was sacred to Bastet, a protective mother goddess and the daughter of the sun god Re. Amulets offered the wearer the goddess's protection.
Her name means ‘she of the bast [ointment jar],’ which may have contained a substance favoured by or exclusive to royalty. Originally, Bastet was depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, but by the late New Kingdom, she was usually shown with a cat's head. She is sometimes portrayed with kittens, emphasising her maternal role as a fierce protector of offspring.
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