Skip Navigation

Mummified Cat

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

MEDIUM Animal remains, linen, pigment
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES 305 B.C.E.-395 C.E.
    PERIOD Ptolemaic Period to Roman Period
    DIMENSIONS 14 7/8 × 2 3/4 × 3 3/4 in. (37.8 × 7 × 9.5 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 05.307
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION The cat mummy is wrapped in linen placed cylindrically. Only the head, ears erect, protrudes from the wrappings. The head is elaborately molded and is patterned with black and red pigment. The patterns include alternating black and red lines, a line of small black dots, and a continuous contour line which wrap, parallel to one another, over the snout of the cat and extend around to the lower back of the head. Mummy of Cat wrapped in line with elaborately molded head with painted details in red and black. The ears are erect. Right ear is partly gone. Bandages around the nose are decayed and appear blackened compared to the tan hue of the aged linen wrappings. At the base, the bandages are slightly decayed and loose at the base. The cat mummy is wrapped in linen placed cylindrically. Only the head, ears erect, protrudes from the wrappings. The head is elaborately molded and is patterned with black and red pigment. The patterns include alternating black and red lines, a line of small black dots, and a continuous contour line which wrap, parallel to one another, over the snout of the cat and extend around to the lower back of the head. Mummy of Cat wrapped in line with elaborately molded head with painted details in red and black. The ears are erect. Right ear is partly gone. Bandages around the nose are decayed and appear blackened compared to the tan hue of the aged linen wrappings. At the base, the bandages are slightly decayed and loose at the base. Overall in good condition.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Mummified Cat, 305 B.C.E.-395 C.E. Animal remains, linen, pigment, 14 7/8 × 2 3/4 × 3 3/4 in. (37.8 × 7 × 9.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 05.307. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 05.307_PS9.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 05.307_PS9.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.