Egyptian
Further images
Provenance
With Maurice Nahman, Cairo
With Joseph Brummer, Paris, acquired from above, prior to 1914 (P477)
With Brummer Gallery, New York, 1914 (N2979)
Mrs. Elie Nadelman Collection, New York, acquired from the above in 1922
With Brummer Gallery, New York, acquired from the above in 1932
Sotheby & Co, London, The Ernest Brummer Collection, 16 November 1964, lot 68
Lehman Collection, purchased from above in 1964
Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co, London, Egyptian and Middle Eastern Antiquities, Ancient Art Reference Books, etc, 4 December 1979, lot 43A
With Galerie Nefer, Zürich, acquired from the above in 1979
Private Collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above
Exhibitions
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, 1941
Antikenmuseum & Sammlung Ludwig, Basel, on loan since 2003
Literature
The cat was sacred to the goddess Bastet. A cat-headed goddess of protection, good health and fertility, Bastet was originally a fierce warrior goddess, but came to embody more domestic functions of household protection and as a goddess of pregnancy and childbirth.
Her cult centres, called Bubasteion, were numerous in Egypt however the main one was in the Nile delta region, in the modern city of Tell Basta (called Per-Bastet in Ancient Egypt and Bubastis in Greek). Bronze and wood cat statuettes were placed as votive offerings at these sanctuaries; some were hollow and held cat mummies, preserving the remains for eternity. When complete, this cat must have stood over 40 cm high, an offering from an extremely important and wealthy individual.
For discussion of cats and Bastet in ancient Egypt see D. Arnold, 'Katze' in Falken, Katzen, Krokodile: Tiere im Alten Ägypten: Aus den Sammlungen des Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, und des Ägyptischen Museums Kairo, Zurich, 2010; J. Malek, The Cat in Ancient Egypt, London, 1993.