DOI Artikel:
Nazoyan, Angelika: Figurine of bastet from the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18950#0082
Angelika Nazoyan
Figurine of Bastet
from the National Museum
in Warsa w
This figurine1 is exceptionally well preserved considering its age. The ąuality
of the modelling and the clarity of the form is unusual for a piece so confined
by its dimensions. It is clearly the work of an accomplished artisan. The
statuette bears no inscriptions to identify the deity. Nevertheless we can be
certain of her identity. A female with a cat's head, accompanied by the
particular symbols and emblems depicted can only be the goddess Bastet.
The pose is exceptional. She is frozen in motion, mid-step, with her left
foot striding forward with feline grace. She wears a long, close fitting dress,
with ornate patterns: yertical lines descend the length of the dress, and
between these strapped divisions runs a pattern of dots alternating with
horizontal lines, or a column of dots followed by a column of dashes. An
intricate pattern is peculiar to Bastet, and adorns her robes in virtually every
sculpture of the goddess.
In addition we find the usual three emblems which distinguish Bastet,
although preserved not without some damage. In her left hand she bears the
first emblem, which is probably a cat-headed aegis with a solar disc. In her
right hand she holds the second emblem, the arched sistrum; though only its
top section is preserved. The lower part of the sistrum, with her forearm and
hand, are iost. Finally, upon her left forearm the goddess carries the third
emblem: the smooth basket without rendering of the plaited pattern.2
Representations of the goddess are not uncommon and examples of
this type of figurine can be found in virtually every museum in the world.3
1 Inv. no. 147073, materiał: bronze; measurements: height 8.5 cm, width 1.5 cm at the base
(figurine only), length 2.5 cm; datę: Ptolemaic 3rd - 2nd century B.C.; provenance: Czartoryski
Collection, Castle Gołuchów. Bibliography: K. Michałowski, Sztuka starożytna, Warsaw 1968,
p. 147, fig. 101; W Froehner, Antiąuites. Collection du cbateau de Goluchów, Paris 1899, p.
63, no 444.
2 Cf. S. Schoske, D. Wildung, Gott und Gótter im Alten Agypten, Mainz am Rhein 1993,
pp. 14-15.
80
Figurine of Bastet
from the National Museum
in Warsa w
This figurine1 is exceptionally well preserved considering its age. The ąuality
of the modelling and the clarity of the form is unusual for a piece so confined
by its dimensions. It is clearly the work of an accomplished artisan. The
statuette bears no inscriptions to identify the deity. Nevertheless we can be
certain of her identity. A female with a cat's head, accompanied by the
particular symbols and emblems depicted can only be the goddess Bastet.
The pose is exceptional. She is frozen in motion, mid-step, with her left
foot striding forward with feline grace. She wears a long, close fitting dress,
with ornate patterns: yertical lines descend the length of the dress, and
between these strapped divisions runs a pattern of dots alternating with
horizontal lines, or a column of dots followed by a column of dashes. An
intricate pattern is peculiar to Bastet, and adorns her robes in virtually every
sculpture of the goddess.
In addition we find the usual three emblems which distinguish Bastet,
although preserved not without some damage. In her left hand she bears the
first emblem, which is probably a cat-headed aegis with a solar disc. In her
right hand she holds the second emblem, the arched sistrum; though only its
top section is preserved. The lower part of the sistrum, with her forearm and
hand, are iost. Finally, upon her left forearm the goddess carries the third
emblem: the smooth basket without rendering of the plaited pattern.2
Representations of the goddess are not uncommon and examples of
this type of figurine can be found in virtually every museum in the world.3
1 Inv. no. 147073, materiał: bronze; measurements: height 8.5 cm, width 1.5 cm at the base
(figurine only), length 2.5 cm; datę: Ptolemaic 3rd - 2nd century B.C.; provenance: Czartoryski
Collection, Castle Gołuchów. Bibliography: K. Michałowski, Sztuka starożytna, Warsaw 1968,
p. 147, fig. 101; W Froehner, Antiąuites. Collection du cbateau de Goluchów, Paris 1899, p.
63, no 444.
2 Cf. S. Schoske, D. Wildung, Gott und Gótter im Alten Agypten, Mainz am Rhein 1993,
pp. 14-15.
80