An Egyptian mummified cat discovered earlier this year in a dark, dusty attic at Portscatho is being given the opportunity to star in the limelight at the Royal Cornwall Museum.

The cat will be placed on loan by owner, Robert Gray, on Monday, June 24 and put on display near an Egyptian mummified ibis bird at the Museum.

Robert rediscovered the cat, named ‘Mao’ in the attic of his house in Portscatho and brought it in to the Royal Cornwall Museum for identification in February this year.

Jane Marley, Curator of Archaeology and World Cultures, identified the object as an Egyptian mummified cat. Due to the fine ‘diamond’ style of linen bandaging and the way the cat’s head is modelled in linen, this example can be dated to the Roman period in Egypt to the 2nd century AD.

At Jane Marley’s suggestion Robert took ‘Mao’ to be x-rayed at Clifton Villa Veterinary Surgery to find out more and the x-ray revealed that there was a small, complete cat or kitten within the bandages.

Robert was given the cat by his father Mr P Gray, an Egyptologist, who had acquired the cat in the 1960’s as a gift and believed that it had been in Britain since the 1850’s.

Mr Gray x-rayed over 200 mummies in Europe and became the established expert in the field. Robert has never forgotten his childhood experience with his father when he x-rayed Iset-tayef-nakht, the mummified priest and craftsman on display at Royal Cornwall Museum, on 6th January 1969 at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske.

It is because of this long-standing relationship with the Museum that Robert is lending the cat for displa. He said: "I am thrilled to be following in my late father’s footsteps 50 years on and to be giving the mummified cat to the Royal Cornwall Museum for all to enjoy.’

Visitors interested in viewing the cat will find it on display in the new gallery: Unwrapping the Past, featuring the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Greece and Rome and Iset-tayef-nakht, the unwrapped mummy.

Museum director, Hilary Bracegirdle said: "I am so very pleased that Robert has decided to lend us Mao for display. Such an excellent example of a mummified cat makes a brilliant addition to the museum’s Unwrapping the Past Gallery."