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Cat on a handle

Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
664–30 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 130
Bastet was a powerful goddess of Lower Egypt, one who was protective and could bring about great prosperity. In zoomorphic form, she was represented as a cat and cats were considered sacred to her. As a cat, she is poised and alert, on guard against external forces. Here the sits at the top of a vessel handle. Usually in the seated position, the cat’s tail curves at its feet to the right. Here, the figure is adapted to the vessel and the tail falls downward, following the curve of the handle.

Cat statuettes and cat mummies were among some of the most common zoomorphic dedications of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, and this cult vessel should be seen in relation to those types of dedications. Small statuettes would have been dedicated as offerings to temples or deposited in catacombs alongside cat mummies, as at the extensive catacombs at Bubastis and Saqqara.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cat on a handle
  • Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
  • Date: 664–30 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Cupreous metal
  • Dimensions: H. 7.9 cm (3 1/8 in.); W. 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.); L. 3.4 cm (1 5/16 in.)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Darius Ogden Mills, 1904
  • Object Number: 04.2.602
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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