animal mummy; mummy-wrapping

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animal mummy; mummy-wrapping

Object Type: animal mummy; mummy-wrapping
Museum number: EA6753
Description: Mummified cat: the arrangement of the bandages, in geometrical patterns using interlaced dyed strips of material, is characteristic of the period (for human mummy wrappings too). s.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 30BC (after)
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Thebes (Upper Egypt - archaic)
Materials: cat tissue; linen; plaster
Technique
Dimensions: Length: 53.30 centimetres
Curator's comments: Bastet was particularly popular in the Graeco-Roman Period, so it is not surprising that this is the very time to which most cat mummies can be dated. Each cat mummy of this type is rendered unique by the treatment of the expression on the face, formed of plaster and linen. To achieve the typical tapering shape, the front legs were stretched down the chest and the back legs folded up against the body; if necessary the limbs were broken. Few of the mummified cats that have been examined were more than two years old; even more surprisingly, many of them had broken necks or head injuries, which suggests that they were killed to meet demand, a notion quite at odds with the original reason for embalming animal
Bibliographic references
Location: On display (G1/wp118/sh2)
Condition: good
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Henry Salt; Purchased through: Sotheby's
Acquisition date: 1835
Department: Egypt and Sudan
BM/Big number: EA6753
Registration number: .6753
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: BS.6753 (Birch Slip Number)
Conservation: Treatment: 29 Aug 1997; Treatment: 03 Sep 2002

Free entry

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