Bastet
Culture: Egyptian
Period: Late Period-Ptolemaic Period
Date: ca. 712-30 B.C.
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions:
3 11/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 5/16 in. (9.3 x 4 x 3.3 cm)
Credit Line: Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection
Object number: 86.138.201
Provenance: by purchase, the Stark family, Orange, Texas, between 1927 and 1929; by bequest, the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 1965; by purchase, the San Antonio Museum of Art with funding from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Willson, 1986
Exhibition History: "Egyptian Animal Mummies: Science Explores an Ancient Religion," San Antonio Museum of Art, March 23-July 1, 2018.
Label Text
Bastet, represented as a cat-headed woman, is the goddess of fertility, sexuality, and the protector of pregnant women and infants. Her cult center was at Bubastis in the Nile Delta. She wears a long, pleated dress and carries an aegis (or shield) in her left hand. The aegis depicts a lion-headed goddess wearing a uraeus-serpent with a sun disk on its head. This figure, along with other similar bronze and faience statuettes, was probably dedicated at a temple or used in a household shrine.
(Sarah Schellinger, 2018)
(Sarah Schellinger, 2018)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
