ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Bastet Finial

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date722-332 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions1 15/16 x 3/8 x 7/8 in., 31 g (5 x 1 x 2.2 cm, 1 1/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.956

Label TextFinials of sacred animals served as temple furniture and ritual equipment. This small cat is depicted in Bastet’s typical pose, sitting upright with its tail to the right. The cat perches on a ring with a central groove. The finial was once inserted into a pole to be carried during festival processions in the goddess’s sanctuary at Bubastis.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesHotel des Ventes, Marseille, Archeologie (25 Avril 1974), lot 65.
Melinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 49.

ProvenancePurchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Hotel des Ventes, Marseille, France, April 25, 1974, lot 65. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

Not on view

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