Treasures From the Archives

"In this domestic scene, a young woman sits in front of a lacquered needlework box, folding a length of resist-dyed fabric. Several shades have been used to render the degrees of translucence of the gossamer silk. More substantial cloth is used as a foil—the woman's obi is of dense brocade and her light yellow robe has a simple lattice pattern. Colors swirl on the ground, accentuated by bold outlines.

"The tiny animal of this pendant has the expectant look of an impatient house cat awaiting its bowl of cream. A design for a comparable jewel with a seated but somewhat more placid cat appears in a drawing by Gabriell Gomar, dated 1603, from the Llibres de Passanties, a set of volumes in the Barcelona Archivo Histórico de la Ciudad, containing the master drawings of applicants for admission to the Barcelona goldsmiths’ guild. The drawing was illustrated by Priscilla E. Muller, who noted that similar jewels had previously been considered to be German.[1] From the evidence provided by the design, however, Yvonne Hackenbroch has attributed this jewel to a Spanish goldsmith working about 1580 to 1590.

"The cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, a great and benevolent Egyptian goddess. For the Egyptians, the goddesses Bastet and Sakhmet were two aspects of divine power. Sakhmet, the lioness, represented dangerous, potentially destructive forces. Bastet, the feline of the house, incorporated the benevolent aspects of a deity that could be pacified by rituals.

In Bastet's 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. An impression of majesty is created by the cat's erect and dignified pose and the alert expression of the eyes. The sleek muscles and long graceful legs convey a sense of controlled power.