Cat Killing a Serpent
A.D. 1920–1921; original ca. 1295–1213 B.C.
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
Tempera on paper
Dimensions
Facsimile: 47 × 84.5 cm (18 1/2 × 33 1/4 in.), Scale 1:1, Frame: 51.1 × 87.9 cm (20 1/8 × 34 5/8 in.)
Classification
Facsimile, Sennedjem, TT 1, cat, serpent
Period
Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1930
Accession Number
30.4.1
Tags
About this artwork
This facsimile painting reproduces a scene from the tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina in western Thebes, created by Charles K. Wilkinson in 1920-1921 for the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The image depicts a cat killing a serpent, a scene associated with Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead and symbolizing the triumph of order over chaos in Egyptian cosmology. The cat represents the sun god Ra in his battle against Apophis, the serpent of chaos who threatened the solar b...
About the Artist
Charles K. Wilkinson · 1897–1986
Charles K. Wilkinson (1897–1986), born Charles Kyrle Wilkinson in London on October 13, 1897, was the son of Horace W. Wilkinson, a stained-glass window maker, and Frances Adkins. Serving in World War I, he honed his artistic skills at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, where the influential director Henry Tonks shaped the rigorous training of a generation of draughtsmen. In ...