Cat Head Of The Goddess Bastet
Cat Head Of The Goddess Bastet
Egypt
Late Period 664 - 332 B.C.
Bronze
H: 8.3 cm x W: 6.8 cm
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Exquisite bronze head of the goddess Bastet. The details are meticulously incised and delicate, the forms supple, and the surface smooth. The cat’s ears are pierced although the original gold earrings have been lost. The cult of Bastet, protective goddess of the home associated with prosperity and fertility, developed beginning in the tenth century BC, simultaneously with the establishment of the primary residence of the kings of the 22nd Dynasty in Bubastis (the home of Bastet). Small statuettes of this sort served as offerings or were placed alongside mummies and sarcophagi of cats, which were considered at the time to be sacred animals.
‘Die Sammlung Dr. Hans Wendland’, Lugano, Hermann Ball and Paul Graupe, Berlin, 1931, Lot 254.
‘Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities’, Sotheby’s, London, 8 December 1970, Lot 216.
‘Antiquities’, Christie’s London, 6th December 2017, Lot 93.
Catalogue 198, Charles Ede Ltd, 2019, p29-32, p93.
Formerly in the collection of Dr. H.W., Lugano, Switzerland
Sold at: ‘Die Sammlung Dr. H.W.’, Lugano, Hermann Ball and Paul Graupe, Berlin, 1931, Lot 254.
Acquired at the above sale, through agent Paul Bercowitz, by a Frau Kienlechner.
Thence by descent to F. S. Kienlechner.
Sold at: Antiquities, Christie’s London, 6th December 2017, Lot 93.
With Charles Ede Ltd, acquired from the above sale.
Paris art market, acquired from the above 15th March 2019.
ALR: S00218928, with IADAA certificate, this item has been searched against the Interpol database.
