Mummified Cat
Description
Object Label: Often, the more elaborate the wrapping, the less likely it is that the whole animal is inside, as the two CT scans shown here reveal. Perhaps the intricate wrapping substitutes for the animal. This ibis is the most elaborately wrapped of all the animal mummies on display here. The herringbone pattern linen, the beak, and the elaborate crown all cover a mummy made only from ibis feathers. In contrast, the simple circular wrapping of this cat, with a head modeled in linen, conceals a complete cat mummy. Caption: Mummified Cat, 750–400 B.C.E.. Animal remains, linen, pigment, 5 1/2 × 3 3/4 × 24 1/2 in. (14 × 9.5 × 62.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1988E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
The image shows a small animal figure, head-up, wrapped in tightly layered textile strips with painted detailing on the head and upper body.
A vertically oriented object is photographed against a dark background. The animal’s head protrudes at the top: it has a humanly rendered, stylized face with visible eyes and a nose/muzzle; the ears are also indicated. The remainder of the body appears to be wrapped in many closely spaced, horizontal bands of material (likely linen wrappings). The wrappings and head/upper area show areas of dark-to-gold coloration resembling pigment or varnish. No carved stone/wood construction is visible; the object reads visually as an animal mummification/wrapped remains with painted decoration concentrated on the face and along the head region. No clear hieroglyphic, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text can be read in the image, and no cartouches or royal titulary are visible.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1988E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4197 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.