<em>Cat Coffin with Mummy</em>, 305–30 B.C.E. Wood, animal remains, linen, 3 5/8 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (9.2 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1363E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.1363E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

Cat Coffin with Mummy, 305–30 B.C.E. Wood, animal remains, linen, 3 5/8 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (9.2 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1363E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.1363E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

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Why is this cat coffin so small?

This coffin likely only contained a partial cat mummy, parts that symbolically represented the whole.

Cats were one of the types of animals that were both beloved pets and sacred to the gods. They symbolized both domestic, maternal qualities and could stand in for the powerful lion. Cats were also venerated for their ability to see in the dark and catch vermin that threatened the home.

Would this have just held ashes?

This actually would have head a very small cat's body (a kitten or a fetus) which would have been made even smaller through the mummification process.

What was this cat coffin used for? It’s too small for a cat mummy, no?

You're absolutely right, that coffin is definitely too small for a full cat. Likely parts of the animal would have been included in this coffin instead of an entire cat. You can see the small portion in the side of the coffin where it opens.

Cat Coffin with Mummy

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

This roughly made wooden coffin for a cat mummy shows that felines were prized at all social levels in ancient Egypt. Cats were buried in human cemeteries in the Predynastic Period (4400 to 3000 B.C.E.), suggesting that they were domesticated from very early times.

MEDIUM Wood, animal remains, linen

DATES 305–30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 3 5/8 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (9.2 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1363E

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

EXHIBITIONS

Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Cat Coffin with Mummy, 305–30 B.C.E. Wood, animal remains, linen, 3 5/8 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (9.2 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1363E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.1363E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 37.1363E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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