Statuette of a Cat

Description Representations of cats were popular in ancient Egypt, particularly in Bubastis, the cult center of the love- and fertility-goddess Bastet, who is represented either as a cat or as a woman with a cat's head. During the Late and Greco-Roman periods (6th-1st century BC), people donated cat figures (associated with fertility, love, and protection) to temples throughout Egypt. This cat is adorned with golden earrings, a beaded collar, and a necklace with a "wedjat"-eye pendant, which symbolizes the protection of the sun god.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
9/17/1959	Treatment	cleaned
1/14/1965	Treatment	cleaned
9/27/1965	Treatment	cleaned
9/01/1979	Treatment	cleaned
10/24/2008	Treatment	loss compensation; cleaned; other

Exhibitions

• Mummified. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2008-2013.

Provenance Sheik of the Pyramids; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1930 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1930