Along with many other animals, the ancient Egyptians looked on cats as personifications of deities. This object is a hollow wooden sculpture of the cat, associated with the goddess Bastet.
X-rays confirmed the suspected function of this sculpture as a coffin for a mummified cat, whose complete skeleton can be seen inside the wrappings.
It was uncertain exactly where this cat coffin-sculpture originated from in Egypt, until a letter showed up in our archives confirmed by a photo showing the object at Saqqara - the largest sacred animal cemetery in Egypt.
You can find out more about this object, along with many other fascinating stories on Curator of Egypt and Sudan, Dr. Campbell Price’s blog: https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/object-biography-18-a-wooden-cat-coffin-from-saqqara-acc-no-9303/