The small bronze statuette depicts a mother cat sitting on a flat base in the lifelike pose typical of Egyptian art. The animal with the large, round ears, whose triangular-looking head is slightly tilted downwards from the front, is sitting on its hind paws, with its front paws carefully and extremely elegantly placed next to each other. The tail lies to the right of the cat - as is usual in depictions of this type.

Although details are barely visible due to the state of preservation of the object, it is believed that several fine carvings can be recognised at the end of the tail, parallel to each other, as is the case with the well-known Gayer-Anderson Cat in the British Museum (EA 64391), for example; these reproduce the mackerel coat pattern characteristic of some cats.

Another striking feature is the small, button-like elevation on the animal's chest, which is probably a stylised reproduction of the scarab with which many felids were decorated at this point, such as the aforementioned specimen in London.

Text | CC BY-NC | Manon Schutz