© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Cat Mummy

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date722-332 BCE

MediumLinen, animal remains

Credit LineCharlotte Lichirie Collection of Egyptian Art

Dimensions11 13/16 x 3 9/16 in. (30 x 9 cm)

Object number1999.001.025

Label TextCats were associated with the goddess Bastet and revered as protectors of the home. Great quantities of mummies of cats were left at cult centers of the goddess at Saqqara and other cult sites in the Delta and Middle Egypt.

X-rays reveal that this example is actually a simulated mummy with a cat skull and a stray bone forming the body. It has been wrapped and detailed in paint to look like a complete cat mummy. Such simulated mummies were not uncommon, given the vast amounts of animals that were buried. Many animal burials seem to have occurred at a single time, perhaps during festivals. If there were not enough actual creatures around to be offered, then substitutes had to be produced.
Exhibition HistoryJuly Egyptian Preview, Michael C. Carlos Museum, July 18 - 20, 1999
Cultural Sensations: Africa, Coca-Cola Company Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia, April 21 - June 20, 2003
Napoleon in Egypt, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Georgia, January 13 - March 26, 2006
Hall of Ancient Egypt, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas, August 2014 - Present
Published ReferencesPeter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 67.

ProvenanceEx coll. Niagara Falls Museum, Niagara Falls, Canada. Purchased by MCCM from William Jamieson (1954-2011) [Golden Chariot Productions], Toronto, Canada.

Status

Not on view

Collections