Art History Assignment Ancient Egypt
Introduction to World of Art
100-008
Assignment 1
February 25, 2014
Visit to the Brooklyn Museum of Art
During my trip to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, I observed many masterpieces created by Ancient Egyptians. Among the works of art, the statuette titled “Cat with Kittens” grabbed my attention. I chose that particular piece to write about in this assignment.
“Cat with Kittens” was made in the South of Egypt during the late Ptolemaic period, 664-30 B.C.E. Dynasty 26 was ruling the Egypt at that particular time.
Mother cat and four kittens are made of bronze and the group is on semi-circular bronze base, set into a wooden base. Black color was used to paint the wooden base, but some parts missing large amount of color and has several scratches.
The mother cat wears a necklace engraved around her neck. In the front of the necklace, unclearly shaped piece of jewel is incised. She leans down on her left side, and her head marginally tilted back, as one of the kittens teasingly climbs toward her neck. The other three kittens are being fed by the mother cat. Her legs are outstretched, and tail is on her right hind leg. On the front of the bronze base, right under her left paw, there are hieroglyphs which mean “Bastet, given life”. Noticeable scratches are on the face of the mother cat, just above her right eye, and on the front surface of the bronze base. The whole figure is very well saved.
If we glance at the history of ancient Egyptians, we observe some facts about the tombs in cities like Giza, Abydos and Beni Hasan that contained a large number of mummified feline burials. Some archeologists say that the deceased cats were preserved with cedar oil. This spice had features of keeping the bodies with a nice smell and maintaining them for a long time. They were also buried along with their food and some jewelry.
Subsequently, all of these facts indicate that, Egyptians were deferential towards cats and associated many of them with gods and
100-008
Assignment 1
February 25, 2014
Visit to the Brooklyn Museum of Art
During my trip to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, I observed many masterpieces created by Ancient Egyptians. Among the works of art, the statuette titled “Cat with Kittens” grabbed my attention. I chose that particular piece to write about in this assignment.
“Cat with Kittens” was made in the South of Egypt during the late Ptolemaic period, 664-30 B.C.E. Dynasty 26 was ruling the Egypt at that particular time.
Mother cat and four kittens are made of bronze and the group is on semi-circular bronze base, set into a wooden base. Black color was used to paint the wooden base, but some parts missing large amount of color and has several scratches.
The mother cat wears a necklace engraved around her neck. In the front of the necklace, unclearly shaped piece of jewel is incised. She leans down on her left side, and her head marginally tilted back, as one of the kittens teasingly climbs toward her neck. The other three kittens are being fed by the mother cat. Her legs are outstretched, and tail is on her right hind leg. On the front of the bronze base, right under her left paw, there are hieroglyphs which mean “Bastet, given life”. Noticeable scratches are on the face of the mother cat, just above her right eye, and on the front surface of the bronze base. The whole figure is very well saved.
If we glance at the history of ancient Egyptians, we observe some facts about the tombs in cities like Giza, Abydos and Beni Hasan that contained a large number of mummified feline burials. Some archeologists say that the deceased cats were preserved with cedar oil. This spice had features of keeping the bodies with a nice smell and maintaining them for a long time. They were also buried along with their food and some jewelry.
Subsequently, all of these facts indicate that, Egyptians were deferential towards cats and associated many of them with gods and