Lot 1G
Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasties 21 through 25, ca. 1070 to 664 B.C. Egyptian blue-green faience amulet of the goddess Bastet, protector deity represented as a cat-headed goddess, holding a sistrum (a musical instrument like a rattle) and seated on a throne that is decorated with the depictions of a snake god (called Nehebkau). Open work between the legs and the throne, between arms and body, between head and sistrum and in the sistrum. Size: 2.125" H (5.4 cm)
In ancient Egypt, the cat was associated with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, whose cult was centered on Bubastis on the Nile River Delta. Bastet gained recognition and importance when its rulers rose to power and formed the 22nd dynasty, a period also known as the Libyan Dynasty. Worshippers paid tribute to Bastet with ex-voto figures such as this example.
Bastet was initially a lioness goddess associated with the solar god and channeled its destructive power. However, by the early first millennium BCE, she assumed a more domestic feline form and became understood as a goddess of fertility and a guardian of the home. Ever since, statuettes comprised of various materials have characterized her as a doting mother cat. Her cult expanded decisively when her town in Bubastis (derived from per Bastet or "house of Bastet"), became the royal residence of the kings of the 22nd Dynasty, during the 10th century BCE. The city hosted an annual festival honoring Bastet in celebration of the Nile flood waters, and she was honored throughout Egypt through the first millennium BCE.
Provenance: Ex-private North Carolina estate.
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#120887
- Condition: Suspension loop on reverse professionally and invisibly restored, else quite excellent.
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