Photograph by Ed Pollard, Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II digital slr-2009.

Wadjet-Bastet

Artist Unknown

CultureEgyptian

DateLate Period, Dynasty 26, 656-525 B.C.E.

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2217.15

Collections

Ancient Mediterranean Art

On View

On view

DescriptionCast bronze statuette with gold inlay. It represents a seated goddess with a lioness head. She's wearing a tight dress, armlets and bracelets, a long wig of which locks fall over her shoulder, and a sun disk with a reared cobra. She's sitting on a cubic throne with a low back, carved with details of rods and feather patterns on its sides, and with a thicket of papyrus on its back. Her feet are resting on a rectangular low base. Her arms are folded forward, the right hand lying closed, and the left one formerly holding a scepter (?). The whole figure is set on a large rectangular base with inscribed sides. See also 71.2253.

Label TextWadjet-Bastet Late Period, 656–525 B.C.E. Bronze Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2217.15 Regional deities occasionally merged during ancient Egypt’s 3,000-year history. This hybrid statue combines aspects of Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt who appears as a rearing serpent, with Bastet, the cat-headed goddess who protected against diseases and evil spirits. Bastet herself had transformed after the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom unified Egypt. Once a fierce warrior goddess, Bastet’s lion-like features softened into those of a domestic cat, and she became known as a guardian of home and hearth. Exhibition History"The Allure of Ancient Egypt," Selden Arcade, Norfolk, VA, June 18 - August 17, 2013.