Bastet holding aegis and basket

The goddess Bastet was a powerful protector also known for her fertility. She can be shown with either a lioness head, emphasizing her fierce protective nature, or, as here, with a cat head, emphasizing her peaceful traits.

This figure incorporates many of Bastet's typical attributes. She wears a striped dress elaborated with a complex herringbone pattern that some consider Near Eastern rather than Egyptian in style; traces of red and white here suggest that it would once have been brightly colored. In her right hand she holds an aegis—a protective collar, topped with a lion(ness)-head, and sun disk that refers to her mythological father, the sun god Re. She also holds a basket, which some scholars have suggeted would have held kittens, underscoring Bastet’s role as a benevolent and nurturing mother. There is no clear evidence for this, although other examples of this type can show the goddess with kittens in front of her. Her proper right arm is missing, but based on similar examples, she might have held a sistrum (cultic rattle). In her right ear is a hole that likely held an earring.

Bastet’s main cult center was at Bubastis in the Delta, where thousands of cat mummies and many cat statuettes have been discovered. Her cult also extended far beyond this site, and statuettes of this goddess were among some of the most popular dedications of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods.