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This is a famous c. 1870 photo by French photographer Félix Bonfils titled "Momies Égyptiennes." It shows a mummy dealer (likely from Thebes/Luxor area) napping among ancient Egyptian mummies he was selling in Egypt during peak 19th-century Egyptomania.
Europeans bought them as souvenirs, for unwrapping parties, or ground into "mummy brown" paint.
They stayed so well preserved thanks to ancient mummification: organs removed, body dehydrated 40 days with natron, treated with resins/oils, wrapped in linen. Egypt's dry climate helped too.