Goddess Bastet

This bronze figurine depicts the goddess Bastet as a woman with a cat’s head. She is dressed in a close-fitting short-sleeved robe, a typical garment for this goddess. The patterns of the weave and decorations are depicted with great precision in the bronze surface. In her right hand, Bastet holds up a sistrum (part of which has broken off), a characteristic Egyptian musical instrument that was used in the temple cult. In her other hand she holds an object known as an aegis. This curious object was shaped like a collar, which has here likewise been furnished with a cat’s head. Displayed above the head is a sun disc with a uraeus serpent, an attribute that Bastet shares with Sakhmet, a goddess who is depicted with the head of a lioness.