The Gayer-Anderson Cat is an ancient Egyptian bronze statue dating to the Late Period (c. 664–332 BC), adorned with gold ornaments. It is named after Major Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, who, along with Mary Stout Shaw, donated the piece to the British Museum.

The statue represents the goddess Bastet in the form of a female cat. It is decorated with jewelry and a protective wedjat amulet. The earrings and nose ring may have been later additions rather than part of the original design.

A scarab is positioned on the head, while a winged scarab appears on the chest. The piece measures 42 cm in height and 13 cm in width. A replica is housed in the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo. Despite its outward appearance, the statue is not in perfect condition; X-rays reveal deep cracks encircling the body, with internal supports preventing the head from detaching.

The restoration work was carried out in the 1930s by Major Gayer-Anderson himself, who was an enthusiastic restorer of antiquities. When he acquired the cat, its surface was covered in a thick layer of crystalline verdigris and flakes of red patina, which he carefully removed.

The statue was cast using the lost-wax technique, in which a wax model is encased in clay and fired so that the wax melts away, leaving a mold for molten metal. In this case, the alloy consisted of 85% copper, 13% tin, 2% arsenic, and traces of lead (0.2%). X-rays still reveal the remains of the pins that held the wax core in place.

Ancient craftsmen could achieve varied colors in bronze casting, and the stripes on the tail result from metal of differing compositions. It is also believed that the cat’s eyes were originally inlaid with stone or glass.