Cat Coffin (Late Period-Ptolemaic Period (664–32 BCE)): Artwork and History

Cat Coffin (Late Period-Ptolemaic Period (664–32 BCE)) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Egyptian.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Ancient Egyptians dedicated animal coffins like this wooden example in temples, tailoring the enclosed mummified animal to one that had a specific connection with the deity whose favor was sought. The mummified animal’s soul acted as a messenger between the human and divine realms, seeking resolution to issues such as illness or crimes committed against its dedicator. The feline form of this empty coffin suggests that it was presented to Bastet, a goddess revered for her motherly qualities who often assumed the form of a cat or cat-headed woman.

Object facts

• Title: Cat Coffin
• Date: Late Period-Ptolemaic Period (664–32 BCE)
• Artist attribution: Egyptian
• Place of origin: Egypt
• Medium: Wood and plaster
• Dimensions: 63.5 × 22.3 × 52 cm (25 × 8 3/4 × 20 7/16 in.)
• Type: Sculpture
• Department: Arts of Africa
• Reference number: 1922.4800

Collection credit

Gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.