LOT 0585

Egyptian Yellow Faience Bastet Cat Amulet

NEW KINGDOM, CIRCA 1550-1070 B.C.

1 in. (2.51 grams, 26 mm).

Figure of Bastet as a cat with pointed ears, seated on a rectangular base with a rounded end; suspension loop on the back, ear repaired.

Ex London gallery and Belinda Elliston, a member of the Egyptian Exploration Society, 1940s onwards.

Cf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, item 29(c).

In 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.