Divine Cat: Speaking to the gods in ancient Egypt
8 November 2007 – 27 January
2008
Room 3
Admission free
This display focuses on the ancient Egyptian
practise of dedicating metal statues of gods in temples, in a bid
to communicate with the divine realm, and seek favours in return.
Centred around the iconic bronze Gayer-Anderson Cat, the exhibition
reveals how objects can be read in different ways, using
archaeological and historical sources, but also the fruits of
exciting new scientific research.
Acquired by the British Museum in 1939, from
the retired British Army general and avid collector of ancient art,
Major Gayer-Anderson, the Cat is perhaps the finest example
of a bronze statue to survive from ancient Egypt. The figure of a
seated cat, 39cm high, is embellished with gold and silver
jewellery. The subtle form of the feline body has been masterfully
recreated in metal by the ancient craftsman. The cat usually
represented the goddess Bastet; it dates to around 600 BC, and
would have been dedicated in a temple by a king or wealthy
individual.
The meaning and purpose of this star object is
brought into focus through two main facets to the display.
Firstly, a display revealing what new
analyses, undertaken in the science laboratories of the British
Museum earlier this year, have revealed about the iconic
Gayer-Anderson Cat. High-resolution x-rays have informed us that
the Cat was heavily repaired by Major Gayer-Anderson, a keen metal
restorer, in the 1930s. Perhaps fearing the head would become
detached, he inserted a metal cylinder into the neck of the cat,
and soldered other parts of the figure. The radiographs also inform
us of the casting technique used to make the object, around a
wax original. X-ray fluorescence was used to analyze the metal. In
this technique, non-destructive X-ray beams are directed at an
object, allowing the specific elements to be quantified. This Cat
is made of bronze, an alloy of 84.7% copper, 13% tin and small
amounts of arsenic and lead. It has also been possible to reveal
the Cat’s tail was embellished with a different metal alloy.
Originally of a different colour, this would have created a striped
effect.
On the other side of the display is a wall of
bronze figures shows the variety of form and size that such statues
could take, which were deposited in their millions in temples
throughout Egypt. These figures attest to the bewildering variety
and richness of Egyptian religion: Horus as a falcon or a shrew,
Osiris as a mummified figure, an ibis-headed Thoth, Isis cradling
her son Horus on her lap, a god with two ram-heads. The
inscriptions upon some of these statues reveal what the donors
sought in purchasing and dedicating such figures:
O Horus-the-Child who is in Djedet, give life,
health, a long lifetime and great and perfect old age to
Ptah-tef-nakht!
A cast bronze replica of the cat will be on
open display to allow visitors to appreciate the quality of the
modelling of the feline form. The exhibition is accompanied by a
book, The Gayer-Anderson Cat, by Neal Spencer.
For further information or images please
contact Katrina Whenham on 020 7323 8583 or hboulton@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk