Collection Online as of November 30, 2023

Statue of Heqat, the Frog Goddess

c. 2950 BCE

Egypt, Predynastic (5000–2950 BCE), Naqada III (3200–3000 BCE)–Egypt, Early Dynastic (2950–2647 BCE), Dynasty 1

Travertine (Egyptian alabaster)

Overall: 15.4 x 14.7 x 15.5 cm (6 1/16 x 5 13/16 x 6 1/8 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1976.5

Location

107 Egyptian

Fun Fact

This probably represents a puffed-up <em>Bufo viridis</em>, one of two types of "frogs" (it is actually a toad) represented in Egyptian art.

Description

During the Predynastic period statues of animals are much more common than those of humans. This statue of a frog stands at the beginning of a great tradition of animal sculpture in Egyptian art. The sculptor has shown great sensitivity to the natural banding of the stone, using it to enhance the roundness of the animal's form. Small frogs, mostly of faience, are among the most common votive offerings deposited at early temple sites. The frog's exact religious significance in the Predynastic period is unknown, but in later times it was most often identified with Heqat, the goddess who assisted at childbirth.

Provenance

-1976

(Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1976-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Cooney, John D. “An Early Dynastic Statue of the Goddess Heqat.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 7 (1976). pp. 202-209 www.jstor.org

Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1976.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 64, no. 2 (1977). no.2 www.jstor.org

La Chronique des Arts, supplement a la Gazette des Beaux-Arts 89, no. 1298 (March 1977) p. 38, fig. 155

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 12 archive.org

Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Reproduced: p. 14; Mentioned: p. 13, p. 60

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Adele Z. Silver. Guide to the Galleries. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. p. 7, fig. 6

Kozloff, Arielle P. "The Egyptian Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art,: Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt 125 (Spring 1984). p. 10

Wildung, Dietrich, and Jean-Baptiste Scherrer. L'Égypte: traduit de l'allemand par Jean-Baptiste Scherrer. Paris: Citadelles, 1989. color pl. 4

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Arielle P. Kozloff. An Introduction to the Art of Egypt in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1970. p. 3

Berman, Lawrence M. "La Collection Egyptienne du Cleveland museum of Art," BSFE 134 (October 1995).
p. 25, fig. 7

Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 79-80, color p. 41; Mentioned: p. 79-81

Exhibition history

CMA, February to 6 March 1977, The Year in Review for 1976, cat.: CMA Bulletin 64, no. 2 (February 1977), no. 2; CMA 1981b, no. 7

Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977).

A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981).