21st Nov, 2025 13:00
Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art
35
A FINE BRONZE FIGURE OF A CAT ON A COLUMN, BASTET, LATE PERIOD
€1,000
€2,000
A buyer’s premium of 30.00% (including VAT) applies to the hammer price of this lot if your bid is successful.
Egypt, circa 664-332 BC. The votive figure sits upright on its haunches atop a papyrus umbel, with forepaws neatly aligned, the tail curving forward around the proper right side and extending just beyond the paws. The head is modeled with erect ears and large convex eyes beneath contoured brows, the animal adorned with a collar tied at the nape and supporting a pendant in relief.
Provenance: A private collection in the south of France, assembled in the 1980s, and thence by descent.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, obvious losses, cracks, minor old repairs, signs of weathering and erosion, and encrustations. The bronze with a naturally grown patina with extensive cuprite and malachite encrustations.
Weight: 62.5 g (excl. stand), 96.1 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 11.6 cm (excl. stand), 11.9 cm (incl. stand)
The seated cat was the most popular animal depicted in bronze during the first millennium BCE and accompanied the increasingly widespread recognition of sacred animal cults from the Late Period through the Ptolemaic. The house cat, as the domesticated counterpart to the wild feline, especially the lion, appears in Egyptian art at least as early as the Middle Kingdom (c. 2134-1665 BC). The male, or tomcat, was associated with the sun god, and in the New Kingdom (c. 1571-1076 BC) played an important role in the Book of the Dead as the slayer of the Apophis serpent, enemy of the sun god. In all likelihood, however, the bronze statuettes represent the female cat and are connected with a series of goddesses, in particular Bastet.
In ancient Egypt, the cat personified Bastet, the goddess of fertility, pleasure, and good health. Those hoping to conceive or seeking protection against disease would make offerings to her. This often took the form of a pilgrimage to her temple, Bubastis (modern Tell Basta near Zagazig in the eastern Delta), or Memphis to deposit votive objects. Bubastis, in addition to other Egyptian sites, became the site of a large cat cemetery, in which mummified cats were deposited as votives. Skeletal evidence suggests that the mummified cats had been intentionally killed while still young, rather than having been cherished pets that died of natural causes. Small cat figurines were often wrapped in the linen bandages of the mummified remains, which were in turn placed in bronze or wooden containers in the shape of seated cats. Many of the larger, hollow-cast bronze cats can be interpreted in this way and retain an opening into the body cavity. The majority of the bronzes, however, were dedicated in shrines.
The dedication of cat mummies and votive statues has been connected to a highly institutionalized cult of the king, which may explain the large number and standardized iconography of the bronzes. Although there is a wide variety of types preserved, most of the bronzes achieve an anatomical correctness and express the essence of cats—haughty dignity and aloofness. They assume the seated position with head held erect and tail curled along the right side as in the hieroglyphic sign.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of a cat, dated to the Later Period, 14.9 cm high, in the Louvre, numéro principal E 4257. Compare a closely related bronze figure of the goddess Bastet as a cat on a lotus column, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, dated 664-30 BC, 19.5 cm high, in the Brooklyn Museum, accession number 05.339.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 9 December 2005, lot 100
Price: USD 10,200 or approx. EUR 14,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian bronze cat, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and similar pose. Note the larger size (10.2 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 3 June 2015, lot 23
Price: USD 27,500 or approx. EUR 31,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian Bronze Figure of a Cat, 21st-26th Dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and similar papyrus umbel pedestal. Note the size (8.9 cm).
#expert video ANT1125
Egypt, circa 664-332 BC. The votive figure sits upright on its haunches atop a papyrus umbel, with forepaws neatly aligned, the tail curving forward around the proper right side and extending just beyond the paws. The head is modeled with erect ears and large convex eyes beneath contoured brows, the animal adorned with a collar tied at the nape and supporting a pendant in relief.
Provenance: A private collection in the south of France, assembled in the 1980s, and thence by descent.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, obvious losses, cracks, minor old repairs, signs of weathering and erosion, and encrustations. The bronze with a naturally grown patina with extensive cuprite and malachite encrustations.
Weight: 62.5 g (excl. stand), 96.1 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 11.6 cm (excl. stand), 11.9 cm (incl. stand)
The seated cat was the most popular animal depicted in bronze during the first millennium BCE and accompanied the increasingly widespread recognition of sacred animal cults from the Late Period through the Ptolemaic. The house cat, as the domesticated counterpart to the wild feline, especially the lion, appears in Egyptian art at least as early as the Middle Kingdom (c. 2134-1665 BC). The male, or tomcat, was associated with the sun god, and in the New Kingdom (c. 1571-1076 BC) played an important role in the Book of the Dead as the slayer of the Apophis serpent, enemy of the sun god. In all likelihood, however, the bronze statuettes represent the female cat and are connected with a series of goddesses, in particular Bastet.
In ancient Egypt, the cat personified Bastet, the goddess of fertility, pleasure, and good health. Those hoping to conceive or seeking protection against disease would make offerings to her. This often took the form of a pilgrimage to her temple, Bubastis (modern Tell Basta near Zagazig in the eastern Delta), or Memphis to deposit votive objects. Bubastis, in addition to other Egyptian sites, became the site of a large cat cemetery, in which mummified cats were deposited as votives. Skeletal evidence suggests that the mummified cats had been intentionally killed while still young, rather than having been cherished pets that died of natural causes. Small cat figurines were often wrapped in the linen bandages of the mummified remains, which were in turn placed in bronze or wooden containers in the shape of seated cats. Many of the larger, hollow-cast bronze cats can be interpreted in this way and retain an opening into the body cavity. The majority of the bronzes, however, were dedicated in shrines.
The dedication of cat mummies and votive statues has been connected to a highly institutionalized cult of the king, which may explain the large number and standardized iconography of the bronzes. Although there is a wide variety of types preserved, most of the bronzes achieve an anatomical correctness and express the essence of cats—haughty dignity and aloofness. They assume the seated position with head held erect and tail curled along the right side as in the hieroglyphic sign.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of a cat, dated to the Later Period, 14.9 cm high, in the Louvre, numéro principal E 4257. Compare a closely related bronze figure of the goddess Bastet as a cat on a lotus column, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, dated 664-30 BC, 19.5 cm high, in the Brooklyn Museum, accession number 05.339.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 9 December 2005, lot 100
Price: USD 10,200 or approx. EUR 14,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian bronze cat, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and similar pose. Note the larger size (10.2 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 3 June 2015, lot 23
Price: USD 27,500 or approx. EUR 31,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian Bronze Figure of a Cat, 21st-26th Dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and similar papyrus umbel pedestal. Note the size (8.9 cm).
#expert video ANT1125
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Auction: Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art, 21st Nov, 2025
🎥 NEW: WATCH 13 INSIGHTFUL VIDEOS FROM OUR EXPERT
With our auction Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art on November 21, 2025, Galerie Zacke opens a new chapter.
After decades of specialization in the arts of Asia —from Japan, China, and Southeast Asia through Afghanistan and the Eurasian steppes to the Arabian Peninsula—we now take a step westward. This premiere is dedicated to the great cultures of antiquity: from the Levant and Egypt across the Mediterranean to Italy, the Balkans, and the Maghreb. A circle closes—along the ancient trade routes once traversed by conquerors from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan. Learn more.
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