Still life: Ancient animal mummies

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A cat mummy is displayed as part of the exhibit "Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt," at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif., March 20, 2014.

The exhibition is on the mummification of animals in ancient Egypt. Drawn from the renowned collections of the Brooklyn Museum, "Soulful Creatures" features choice examples from among the many millions of mummies of birds, cats, dogs, snakes, and other animals preserved from at least thirty-one different cemeteries throughout Egypt.

Bowers Museum

Courtesy Bowers Museum

A large wooden figure of a cat seated on a wooden base. The piece is split into two sections to serve as a mummy container.

Bowers Museum

Courtesy Bowers Museum

A mummified dog, with decorative patterns made up of interlaced bands of cloth. The head is modeled in painted, coated linen.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

A limestone with pigment shows a scene of a cat and mouse, in which animals perform human tasks.

Bowers Museum

Courtesy Bowers Museum

A gilded, wooden figure of an ibis contains a mummified bird.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

A double statue of the Egyptian-Greek god Serapis, a combination of the Egyptian Amun and the Greek Zeus, is displayed as part of the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit.

Bowers Museum

Courtesy Bowers Museum

A mummified ibis bird

Bowers Museum

Courtesy Bowers Museum

A figure of a baboon, displayed in the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

A cat coffin with mummy, left, and an ibis coffin are displayed as part of the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

A cat coffin with mummy, is displayed as part of the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

A dog mummy is displayed as part of the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit.

Bowers Museum

Damian Dovarganes/AP

The Brooklyn Museum's Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art curator, Edward Bleiberg, points to an ibis coffin, that is displayed as part of the "Soulful Creatures" exhibit at the Bowers Museum.