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Details
LOT 0435
Egyptian Silver Bastet as Seated Cat Amulet
LATE-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
1/4 in. (0.325 grams, 7 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
Ex London, UK, art market, 1990s.
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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