Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This sistrum, which has preserved the handle and most of the curving frame, would once have had three metal crossbars threaded through the holes in the frame that would have rattled when shaken. The top of the curved frame is decorated with four small cats, perhaps a mother with kittens, modeled in the round. Three of the cats are reclining, and all face in the same direction. The largest reclining cat reaches out its right paw to touch the back of the central cat sitting in front of it. The sitting cat is flanked by two reclining cats in mirror image of each other, each touching the central cat with one paw, their tails curving below them. On either side of the frame below the cat tails is an incised egg-and-dart pattern. A raised band follows the top edges of the frame.
On each side where the frame merges with the handle is a cobra, facing outward, and wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The bodies are partially separated from the handle. Just above the handle, between the rising sides of the loop, is a seated animal, probably a cat, facing in the same direction as the cats on the top of the handle. No tail or other details beyond the ears and face are preserved.
The handle itself is decorated on both sides with a head of the goddess Hathor, which is more carefully rendered on one side than the other, although the depiction overall is not as detailed as 2001.212. The wig, almond-shaped eyes, nose, and cow ears are visible on both sides. The face is heart shaped, but rather more pointed on the back. The head ends below the neck in a crescent bust. Below the head of Hathor is a molded floral shape above the head of a standing Bes, which is sculpted with a clear front and back. Bes stands, hands on hips, frontally on an upturned cone, with reclining animals (probably felines) on either side. The hair on the back is rendered in a hatched pattern. Bes has wide hips and a tail reaching to the ground line (1). The sistrum ends on a square base.
The sistrum was a musical instrument that created sound through the rattling of its metal pieces; the Egyptian name for these instruments, sesheshet or sesheshat, is onomatopoetic and mimics the instruments’ rattling sound (2). The instrument played an important part in the rites of the goddesses such as Hathor and Isis. It is often depicted as insignia of young female participants of these cults. With the spread of the Isis cult, examples of sistra have been found throughout the Roman world, including Pompeii (3). Many examples incorporate the head of Hathor along with other ornaments, although some are unadorned.
NOTES:
1. The presence of Bes in conjunction with the images of Hathor and cats (referencing Bastet) suggest that this sistrum had an apotropaic function. Thanks are due to E. Russo, Brown University, for this information.
2. E. Russo, pers. comm.
3. S. De Caro, The National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Naples, 1996) 132.
Lisa M. Anderson and Marian Feldman
