As for ‘the great cat’, he is the Sun god himself…
This vignette shows the supreme god Ra as ‘the cat’ killing his enemy the chaos serpent. From the Spell of the Cat: The Book of Going Forth By Day (Book of the Dead)
Through the use of this (and many other spells) the deceased may take on the persona and roles of divine creatures.
This is a larger colour version of the tiny cat vignette on Homage to Ra.
Based on the papyrus of Hunefer held in the British Museum.
Quite proud of the rendering of the snake, the scan unfortunately doesn’t do it justice (the white really pops) and it took me a day to get the colour of the tree just so (ie as close to the original as I could!)
For Dennis who liked the original vignette so much, and Joyce who will never sneeze on this cat’s account.
Date: 2011
Media: Sennelier ink/watercolour and Faber Castell watercolour on papyrus
Implements: William Mitchell pedigree roundhand (5), brushes