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Cat Coffin
305–30 BCE
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
Although the cat is considered the most Egyptian of animals, as an object of worship the cat does not appear until late in Egyptian history. This unusually large statue of a cat was made to hold the mummified remains of a sacred cat. The coffin is, of course, hollow, with an open bottom. As usual, the animal’s tail is curled around its right side.
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Details
- Title: Cat Coffin
- Date Created: 305–30 BCE
- Physical Dimensions: Overall: 51 x 14.1 x 24 cm (20 1/16 x 5 9/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
- Provenance: Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Funerary Equipment
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.998
- Medium: bronze, hollow cast
- Fun Fact: A necklace appears to have been incised or scratched into the finished bronze; faint traces are visible on the chest.
- Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Culture: Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
- Credit Line: Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
- Collection: Egypt - Greco-Roman
- Accession Number: 1917.998
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