Statuette of a seated cat

This hollow-cast bronze statue represents the seated cat form of the feline goddess Bastet, venerated in the Nile Delta, mainly in Bubastis. The tail was placed on the ground along the right side of the body. This position of the tail corresponds to the ancient Egyptian representation, which shows the tail of a seated cat on its right. Incised lines decorate the animal’s neck to create a multi-strand broad collar with a wadjet eye pendant. Its pierced ears once held earrings. The cat aspect of Bastet emphasises her tame, mild, and accommodating nature, in contrast to the uncontrollably ferocious and bloodthirsty features of the lioness. Bubastis, the centre of the Bastet’s cult, venerated in the form of a cat, was the earliest site of a cat cemetery in Egypt, in which mummified cats were deposited as votives to the goddess. The wooden or bronze cat statues as a coffin like this may well have contained a mummified cat or bones and then it has been presented as votive offerings to the goddess.