This wooden cat coffin, accession no. E 2562 at the Musée du Louvre, belongs to the vast corpus of animal coffins produced in Egypt during the Late Period (ca. 664–332 BCE). Shaped as a standing feline, its surface retains traces of black paint and gilding—evidence of an originally luminous, precious presentation.
Such coffins served not as sarcophagi for beloved pets but as containers for votive mummies dedicated to the goddess Bastet, whose cult center at Bubastis and affiliated necropolises drew pilgrims from across Egypt and the Mediterranean.
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