Egyptian Bastet Cat Trinket Box
Product Description
This charming little box features a regal Egyptian cat as the knob on the lid.
The box itself is fairly small: it's 3-3/8" long by 2-1/8" wide by 2" high. Including the cat on the top of the box, the total height is 4-5/8" to the tip of the ears.
The box is made from hand-painted and detailed cold cast resin, with a nice weight and ceramic feel. The gold is an antique type of gold finish, so it doesn't look too new and shiny, it is more of a muted gold.
The interior of the box has a black flocked velvet type coating.
The cat is wearing earrings, an Egyptian collar, and a scarab medallion.
In Egyptian mythology, Bastet is an ancient solar and war goddess. In the Middle Kingdom, the cat appeared as Bastet’s sacred animal and after the New Kingdom she was depicted with a woman with a cat’s head carrying a sacred rattle and a box or basket.
Bastet was a goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later when she was changed into a cat goddess rather than a lion, she was changed to a goddess of the moon by Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization.
Due to the threat of vermin such as mice and rats, and their ability to fight and kill snakes, especially cobras, cats in Egypt were revered highly, sometimes being given golden jewelery to wear and were allowed to eat from the same plates as their owners. Consequently, later as the main cat (rather than lioness) deity, Bastet was strongly revered as the patron of cats.
Occasionally, however, she was depicted holding a lioness mask, hinting at potential ferocity. Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective of their offspring, Bast was also regarded as a good mother, and she was sometimes depicted with numerous kittens. Consequently, a woman who wanted children sometimes wore an amulet showing the goddess with kittens, the number of which indicated her own desired number of children. (some information adapted from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)
The box itself is fairly small: it's 3-3/8" long by 2-1/8" wide by 2" high. Including the cat on the top of the box, the total height is 4-5/8" to the tip of the ears.
The box is made from hand-painted and detailed cold cast resin, with a nice weight and ceramic feel. The gold is an antique type of gold finish, so it doesn't look too new and shiny, it is more of a muted gold.
The interior of the box has a black flocked velvet type coating.
The cat is wearing earrings, an Egyptian collar, and a scarab medallion.
In Egyptian mythology, Bastet is an ancient solar and war goddess. In the Middle Kingdom, the cat appeared as Bastet’s sacred animal and after the New Kingdom she was depicted with a woman with a cat’s head carrying a sacred rattle and a box or basket.
Bastet was a goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later when she was changed into a cat goddess rather than a lion, she was changed to a goddess of the moon by Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization.
Due to the threat of vermin such as mice and rats, and their ability to fight and kill snakes, especially cobras, cats in Egypt were revered highly, sometimes being given golden jewelery to wear and were allowed to eat from the same plates as their owners. Consequently, later as the main cat (rather than lioness) deity, Bastet was strongly revered as the patron of cats.
Occasionally, however, she was depicted holding a lioness mask, hinting at potential ferocity. Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective of their offspring, Bast was also regarded as a good mother, and she was sometimes depicted with numerous kittens. Consequently, a woman who wanted children sometimes wore an amulet showing the goddess with kittens, the number of which indicated her own desired number of children. (some information adapted from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)