Mummy Shaped Cat Sculpture - Smithsonian Institution

Egyptian Collection - The cat was sacred in ancient Egypt. It was associated with Bastet, the cat-headed goddess of Bubastis, a city in the northeastern Delta of Lower Egypt.The mummification of cats began around 700 B.C.The wrapping of linen strips was sometimes meticulously designed as on this brooch which is adapted from a large cat mummy in the National Museum of Natural History's Old World Archaeological Collection.2.5" High