Announcer: This is a Getty Podcast.
Host: Before we get started, I have to know—are a cat
person or a dog person?
If you said dog person, can you pretend you said cat person?
Because today a very special cat tells her tale.
Welcome to If Objects Could Talk, a podcast where art
and artifacts get to leave the museum vault and tell
their side of the story.
Thanks for joining us as we bring objects into the light!
When you imagine life in ancient Egypt, do you think
about pyramids and mummies?
Maybe libraries?
Or do you think about cats?
Cats were kind of a big deal for Egyptians—they protected
food from pests, for instance.
But they were also important in Egyptian mythology.
The goddess Bastet had the head of a cat and the body
of a human and she had the power to shapeshift
into a fully feline form.
This is why many of her worshipers left cat-shaped
gifts at her temples.
Today’s guest was likely one of these gifts—a bronze cat
statuette, about one foot tall.
It was made in Egypt over two thousand years ago.
In the grand history of Egypt, that’s more than two
thousand years after the pyramids were built, and
a little before Cleopatra met her serpentine end.
This cat has had a history of being misunderstood, so
we are grateful she agreed to postpone her nap to get
her story straightened out.
Here she comes.
Bastet Statuette: [Meows] I am sure it’s a great delight
to hear from me, but this is no casual audio interlude.
There have been a lot of rumors and half-truths
told about me in the past.
Some thoughtless gossip!
So, I thought I would set the record straight one last
time and then wash my paws of the entire situation.
First, I am not, nor have I ever claimed to
be, the goddess Bastet.
I am merely a beautiful gift, made in her image,
in celebration of her divinity and perhaps in
fear of her power as well.
There were thousands of bronze and wood cat statuettes like me
meant to be votives at temples dedicated to the goddess.
However, I am one-of-a-kind.
Oh, I should probably explain what a votive is.
A votive is a gift or offering to say thank you.
What do you do to thank someone?
Do you draw a picture or give a big hug?
I think everyone should practice a little more gratitude.
It makes you feel warm, like standing in the Egyptian sun.
Try it!
Write a thank you note to someone, even
if it’s to yourself.
Celebrate a great choice or accomplishment and
don’t spare any details.
Details matter when you are giving thanks.
My favorite way to give thanks is to take a little nap,
because being well rested is a gift for everyone.
I say, “Thank you, self, for being gorgeous” and
then off to dream land.
For those of you talking about my size, well,
I love the way I look.
I’m not very big—only about a foot tall—about the
height of two dollar bills.
But I sit upright with my head held proudly and
my ears at attention.
Don’t let my tail curled around my front paws fool you.
I may love a good nap, but you should beware of my bite.
I also heard that I am some sort of diva?
A cat wears a little jewelry and suddenly you’re typecast?
Fine.
Guilty as charged!
I am a fancy cat.
My eyes are currently bare, but were likely inlaid with
gold or another precious material, like stone or glass.
I can hardly remember anymore.
See—not so materialistic after all!
But I do still have my necklace with a pendant of Wedjat, or
sacred eye amulet, which looks like a stylized eye and eyebrow.
But I don’t just wear it because it’s dazzling, I wear
it because it has meaning!
The story goes that the eye was stolen from Horus
the god of goodness and kingship, by Seth, the god
of the wild, untamed nature.
This caused chaos in the universe!
Which I don’t think is necessarily bad.
I mean, which cat among us has never knocked a glass
off a ledge just because?
But anyway, the eye had to be brought back to
reestablish order—yada, yada, yada—and it represents
healing and protection, just a few of my dear goddess
Bastet’s many specialties.
Bastet was the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and traveled with
him across the sky in his sun boat to move the sun throughout
the day from sunrise to sunset.
She was also the goddess of music, dance, family,
healing, and birth.
She had the head of a cat and the body of a human, but when
she needed to protect her father, she turned one hundred
percent cat, which means she was one hundred percent fierce.
And if I may be so bold as to speak for all cats for a moment,
we are not idle, tame creatures.
We are powerful protectors!
And you are so lucky we allow you to keep us as pets.
Where are the thank you notes for the cats of today?
Why in my time, cats belonging to the wealthy families were
adorned with jewels, like my beautiful eye necklace.
And when a cat died, as a sign of mourning, the cat owners
shaved off their eyebrows, and continued to mourn until
their eyebrows grew back.
Some cats were so beloved that they were mummified and placed
in tombs with their owners.
It’s true!
The belief was that by placing cats and their owners in the
same tomb the pair could remain together in the afterlife.
Ha, and you say dogs are man’s best friend.
How about not!
I’ve also heard rumors going around that I am
made of one hundred percent “cattitude,” whatever that
is. But I assure you, I’m one hundred percent bronze.
I can prove it.
I was made from a mold in one of the most advanced technical
processes from antiquity called lost wax casting.
Lost wax casting was so advanced that it’s still used today!
An artisan makes a rough cat model out of clay.
Next, a thin layer of wax was modeled over the clay, with
all the finer details, like my whiskers and necklace.
Then my entire shape was encased with more clay, leaving a
few open channels and vents.
The whole block of clay and wax was heated, melting
the wax in between the core and the outer clay shell.
In the now empty space where the wax used to be, hot
liquid bronze was poured.
When the bronze had cooled, the mold was broken open and voila!
A perfect kitty cat with a tummy full of fired clay.
That could be removed to create a hollow inside.
Maybe the perfect space for a cat mummy to spend eternity?
I’m sure that being hollow on the inside is where the rumors
that I’m heartless came from.
But that’s also not true.
How can I be heartless when I love me?
Now, on to the rumors about my age.
Because of my youthful and smooth appearance, for a
long time, experts didn’t believe I was really an
ancient Egyptian cat.
They thought I was merely a young copycat, a fake!
To prove that I was authentically me, I had to go
through all sorts of tests.
They told me it was all perfectly safe, but still
I was quite nervous.
If you’ve ever been to a hospital, you’ll
understand what I mean.
The lights, sounds, and machines can be very overwhelming.
But just like you have to be brave so nurses and
doctors can make you feel better, I had to be brave
to prove my doubters wrong!
Here’s how it went down.
First, a team of conservators and other experts brought
me into their laboratory.
Conservators are like doctors who keep artworks
like yours truly healthy.
They use the latest tools to understand how we’re
made and what we’re made from so they can keep us
looking and feeling our best.
Once the conservators got me in the lab, they took x-rays,
did metal analysis, and used teeny tiny microscopes
to check my insides.
Have you ever gotten an x-ray?
Maybe to find a broken bone?
The experts didn’t find a broken bone, but they
did discover something rattling around in my head.
Bits of ancient clay perhaps?
I would need surgery to pull out the item stuck inside.
So I was taken off of my wooden base and a conservator
reached inside and expertly removed a piece of material
that was near my ear.
A sample of that material was carefully packaged and
was sent to a laboratory in Oxford, England for testing.
Like I said, I’m a very fancy cat.
It turned out the material could be dated to between
1,700 and 2,700 years ago!
So, we have real proof that I wasn’t lying about my age!
My youthful glow is from an experimental skincare
regimen involving beeswax and plenty of rest.
Wow!
Setting the record straight is exhausting.
Back to the vault.
I’m sure now that the truth is out, I am going to have the
best cat nap of my nine lives.
Host: I hope you enjoyed learning about
cats and conservation.
Join us next time when a fish flask swims into the studio.
To see photographs of the Bastet statuette and learn
more about her conservation, visit our website at Getty
dot edu slash podcasts.
This episode was written by Tocarra Elise and
produced by Zoe Goldman.
Chloe Mei Li Bundt voiced the statuette.
Theme music, mixing and sound design by Alexandra Kalinowski.
Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer.
Special thanks to curators Ken Lapatin, Judith Barr, Hana
Sugioka, and Sara Cole, as well as conservator Susanne Gänsicke.
Catch you next time!