Skip Navigation

Sistrum

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

MEDIUM Bronze
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES 305-30 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Ptolemaic Period
    DIMENSIONS 5 3/4 x 1 x 1 3/8 in. (14.6 x 2.6 x 3.5 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.573E
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Small bronze sistrum. The base of the handle is in the form of two recumbent cats from between which rises a column with palm capital. Atop the capital is a Hathor-headed aegis flanked by two uraei. From this aegis rises the loop and, in the center, a small figure of a cat. On top of the loop is a damaged element which might be the figure(s) of one of two cats. Condition: Dark patina; some pitting. approximately 1/3 of the loop is missing.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Sistrum, 305-30 B.C.E. Bronze, 5 3/4 x 1 x 1 3/8 in. (14.6 x 2.6 x 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.573E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.573E_NegID_37.573E_GRPA_print_cropped_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE detail, CUR.37.573E_NegID_37.573E_GRPA_print_cropped_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.