egyptomania

Cat Statuette
Macedonian-Ptolemaic Period, 332–30 B.C., Egypt.
‘The cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, a great and benevolent Egyptian goddess. In her honor, mummified cats, sometimes in impressive bronze or wooden containers, were donated at her temples, of which the most important were located at Bubastis and Saqqara. The mummies were then buried within her temple precincts. This statue was the container for a mummified cat. Clearly this is not an ordinary cat. Its pierced right ear once held a gold ring (now lost), and suspended from its incised necklace is a wedjat-eye pendant.’