This is a lovely photograph as the cat looks like an ancient Egyptian statue. All the ancient Egyptian statues depict elegant, rather slender, shorthaired cats. They remind me of today’s Abyssinian cat and there may be a connection there but there is no evidence.
This cat has a grey coat and steely, golden eyes that match the colour of the sandstone. The cat is very regal and princely. 😻
Here is a picture of the kind of cat I am talking about:
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Ancient Egyptian cat statues, often found in museums, hold a fascinating history. Here are two notable examples:
The Gayer-Anderson Cat:
- Material: Bronze
- Depiction: One form of the goddess Bastet. Bastet was usually shown as a cat-headed woman or in the form of a cat.
- Origin: Late Period (around 600 BC) in ancient Egypt.
- Named after Major Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, who donated it to the British Museum in 1939.
- Adorned with precious metals, including a silver protective pectoral and golden earrings.
- Symbolism: The scarab beetle on its head and chest represents rebirth, while the silver wedjat-eye invokes protection and healing.
- Where to see it: British Museum.
Other Cat Statuettes:
- Materials: Bronze, wood, or faience (a glazed ceramic material).
- Purpose: These small statuettes were dedicated as offerings to temples or placed alongside cat mummies in catacombs, such as those at Bubastis and Saqqara.
- Some larger hollow examples even held a cat mummy inside.
- These cat figurines reflect the reverence Egyptians had for feline companions.
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This is where the image was found by me.
