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Senet Game Boards
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ In the introduction to Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, playing a game called senet is described as one of the occupations of the deceased person in the next world, and the vignette accompanying the chapter represents him seated, often in the company of his wife, at a checkerboard but without an opponent. Like so many other activities ascribed to the next life, playing this game was also something that the deceased had done in his lifetime. It must have a long history, because it is represented occasionally in the scenes on the walls of Old Kingdom tombs, a thousand years before the time of Tutankhamun, sometimes in association with music and other kinds of entertainment. On the standard board there were generally three rows of ten squares, five of which might be inscribed with hieroglyphics; each player had five or seven playing pieces, frequently conical in shape. To judge from the number of boards in Tutankhamun's tomb, the game must have been one of his favorite pastimes. The boards - four in all - vary is size from a miniature set to the largest and most elegant, which is shown here. It is box-shaped and is mounted in a rebate on top of an ebony stand in the form of a bed frame with feline paws resting on gilded drums. Beneath the drums is an ebony sledge. The claws of each paw are made of ivory and the cushions and the braces, which strengthen the joints between the frame and the paws, are gilded. The box itself is veneered with ebony and the thirty squares, five of which are inscribed, are inlaid with ivory. At one end of the board is a small drawer for the gaming pieces. Originally it was fastened by two bolts, probably of gold, which slid into staples fixed on the frame. Since the pieces were missing, Carter supposed that they were made of gold and silver and were stolen by the ancient robbers. Like many of the other known examples, this box is double-sided, the game played on the reverse side being called tjau, a word that seems to mean robbers That board is divided into twenty squares, a middle row of twelve squares flanked by four squares on each side at one end. Three of the squares in the middle row are inscribed, one with a kneeling figure of Heh, the god of millions of years, another with two thrones in pavilions (the sign for a jubilee festival), and the third with the hieroglyphic signs for life, stability, and dominion. Nothing is known with certainty about the rules of play for either game, but it is believed that the aim of each player in senet was to be the first to reach the square at the angle of the L-shaped arrangement inscribed with three signs meaning happiness, beauty. The square preceding it may have been a hazard, because its hieroglyphs represent water. Certainly it was a game of chance, the moves being determined by the throw either of knucklebones or of four casting sticks, both of which were found in the tomb. The casting sticks were of two kinds, one pair having ends in the form of the tips of human fingers and the ends of the other being carved in the form of a long-eared canine animal, probably a fox. Both pairs consist of black ebony in the upper half and white ivory in the lower half. Perhaps the number of points scored from a cast depended on the number of sticks that finished with the white or black side uppermost when they were cast. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl69.htm


Gold Death Mask of Tutankhamun
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ This mask of solid gold, beaten and burnished, was placed over the head and shoulders of Tutankhamun's mummy, outside the linen bandages in which the whole body was wrapped. It weighs about twenty - four pounds. Although it is difficult to judge how closely the face represents a true likeness of the king, it is at least an approximation. The rather narrow eyes, the shape of the nose, the fleshy lips, and the cast of the chin are all in agreement with the features visible in his mummy, and the whole countenance is unmistakably youthful. Perhaps it is slightly idealized, but essentially it seems to be a faithful portrait. The stripes of the nemes headdress are made of blue glass in imitation of lapis lazuli, and the same material has been used for the inlay of the plaited false beard. The vulture's head upon the brow, symbolizing sovereignty over Upper Egypt, is also made of solid gold, apart from the beak, which is made of horn-colored glass, and the inlay of the eyes, which is missing. By its side is the cobra, symbolizing sovereignty over Lower Egypt, its body made of solid gold, its head of dark blue faience, its eyes of gold cloisonne inlaid with translucent quartz backed with a red pigment, and its hood inlaid with carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise-colored glass, and quartz. The eyebrows, eyelids, and kohl marks extending sideways from the eyes are made of lapis lazuli and the eyes of quartz and obsidian. Caruncles (small red patches) are shown on the inner and outer canthi of the eyes - a frequent mistake in Egyptian reproductions of the human eye, which in nature shows a caruncle on the inner canthus only. The lobes of the ears are pierced for earrings, but when the mask was found the holes were covered with disks of gold foil. A triple-string necklace of gold and faience disk beads has also been removed from the mask in order to reveal the neck. On the chest, extending from shoulder to shoulder, is a broad collar encrusted with segments of lapis lazuli, quartz, and green feldspar with a lotus-bud border of colored-glass cloisonne work. At each end of the collar is a terminal in the form of a falcon's head of gold encrusted with obsidian and colored glass. The inscription engraved on the shoulders and on the back of the mask is a spell that first appears on masks of the Middle Kingdom, some five hundred years before the time of Tutankhamun. It was later incorporated in the Book of the Dead (Chapter 151 B). Intended for the protection of the mask, it identifies its various parts with the corresponding physical members of different gods, addressing them individually: ...Your right eye is the night bark [of the sun god], your left eye is the day bark, your eyebrows are [those of] the Ennead of the Gods, your forehead is [that of] Anubis, the nape of your neck is [that of] Horus, your locks of hair are [those of] Ptah-Soker. [You are] in front of the Osiris [Tutankhamun], he sees thanks to you, you guide him to the goodly ways, you smite for him the confederates of Seth so that he may overthrow your enemies before the Ennead of the Gods in the great Castle of the Prince, which is in Heliopolis...the Osiris, the king of Upper Egypt Nebkheperura, deceased, given life like Ra. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl18.htm


Collection of small coffins
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ Many non-enthusiasts of ancient Egypt have a tendency to think of King Tut as a child king who died before reaching real adulthood, leaving the throne to his regents, Ay and Horemheb, but that was not the case. Tutankhamun was certainly old enough to have sired more than one child, and in fact, he probably did. Among the shrines and chests that were piled up in the part of King Tut's tomb that is now referred to as the Treasury was an undecorated wooden box (no. 317), that measured some 61 centimeters long. the lid was originally tied into position and sealed with the jackal and nine captives, but these had been broken during antiquity. Within the box were two miniature anthropoid coffins, one measuring 49.5 centimeters and the other 57.7 long, placed side by side, head to foot. This had been painted with the usual black resin, relieved by gilded bands of inscriptions referring to each occupant simply as the Osiris, with no other names specified. The lids were attached to the coffin bases in the normal manner, using eight flat wooden tenons. Bands of linen were then tied around the coffins beneath the chin and around the waist and ankles, and applied to each of the bands was a clay seal, again with the impression of the jackal and nine captives. After these linen bands were removed and the lids pulled away, the coffins were each found to contain a second coffin (no. 317a(1), 317b(1)). They were different than the outer coffins in having their entire surface covered in gold foil. Within these second coffins were the mummified remains of two tiny humans. The first mummy, no. 317a(2), was less then 30 centimeters in height, and was preserved in almost perfect condition. There as a swathing sheet which held it in place with five transverse and two triple longitudinal band down the front, back and sides. A well-modeled mask of gilded cartonnage and black, painted facial details was placed upon its head. Though the mask was very small, it was nevertheless far too large for what was probably a fetus. Though the second mummy, no. 317b(2), was less well preserved than the first, it was also somewhat larger at 39.5 centimeters. It was also wrapped similar to the first one, with a triple longitudinal band over the front, back and sides, and four transverse bandages. Although a mask had evidently been prepared for it, there was none present, apparently because the embalmers found that it was too small to fit over the head of the wrapped bundle. Hence, the mask had been tossed into the embalming debris stored in the entrance corridor and later reburied in Pit 54, where it as found by Davis in 1907, sometime before the discovery of King Tut's tomb. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutchildren.htm


The second outermost shrine
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The second outermost shrine was different from the first both in its dimensions (3.75 meters deep by 2.35 meters wide by 2.25 meters high) and in its shape. Unlike that of the outermost shrine, the second shrine had a sloping roof which reached its maximum height above the entrance doors. The shrine appears to imitate, in its basic form, the shape of the Per-wer, the ancient shrine of Upper Egypt. This shrine was made of 16 heavy wooden sections. Most of the surfaces, both inside and out, had been gessoed and covered with a layer of gold leaf. The roof was covered with thick black resin divided into squares by gilded bands of incised decoration. The exterior surface of each door was adorned with a superbly crafted depiction of the king before Osiris (left) and Re-Horakhty (right), executed in sunk relief. On the back of the shrine stand Isis and Nephthys, who as the sisters of Osiris would have been the principal mourners at the deified king's funeral. The remainder of the outer surface is decorated with texts and vignettes from various funerary compositions, including the Book of the Dead spells 1, 17, 26, 27 and 28, as well as a unique cryptographic funerary book which has as its theme the triumph of light. Inside, the decorative theme of this shrine is dominated by a figure of the winged sky-goddess Nut surmounting the hieroglyph for gold which, together with five vultures having outspread wings, decorates the ceiling. To either side of the goddess are spells from the Pyramid Texts and the Book of the Dead. The inside surface of the right-hand door carries a depiction of a donkey-headed herald and a ram-headed guardian of the underworld, while that of the left door panel carries a similar underworld guardian and a human-headed figure wearing a close-fitting cap. Above is text from spell 144 of the Book of the Dead, invoking the keepers of the gates of the underworld. The right and left side panels of the shrine are decorated with sunk-relief vignettes illustrating the Book of the Dead spell 148 (the seven celestial cows, the bull of heaven and the four rudders of heaven). Another vignette depicts spells 141-2, with additional texts from spells 130, 133, 134 and 148. The back panel of the shrine is inscribed in finely delineated hieroglyphs with Book of the Dead spell 17, a statement of the solar doctrine. One interesting feature of this shrine is that it has been re-inscribed. The more brilliant gilding of the cartouches reveals that the nomen Tutankhamun was written over an original name, a component part of which, according to Carter, was '-aten. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutshrines.htm


The Outer Coffin
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The exposed outer coffin of Tutankhamun, measuring 2.24 meters long with its head positioned to the west, rested on a low leonine bier that was still intact though certainly suffering from the strain of a ton and a quarter worth of weight it had endured over the prior 3,200 years. Fragments chipped from the toe of the coffin lid at the time of the burial, a crude attempt to rectify a design problem and allow the sarcophagus lid to sit properly, were found in the bottom of the sarcophagus. The chippings revealed that the coffin was made of cypress with a thin layer of gesso overlaid with gold foil. The layer of gold varied in thickness from heavy sheet for the face and hands to the very finest gold leaf for the rather curious khat-like headdress. The gold covering also varied in color so that, for example, the hands and face were covered by a paler alloy then the remainder of the coffin. In Howard Carter's words, this gave an impression of the greyness of death. The surface area of both the lid and base of the coffin were covered with rishi, a feather decoration executed in low relief. On the left and right sides and superimposed upon this feathering were two finely engraved images of Isis and Nephthys with their wings extended. Their protective embrace is alluded to in one of the two vertical lines of hieroglyphs running down the front of the lid. At the bottom of the coffin under the foot is another depiction of the goddess Isis, kneeling upon the hieroglyph for gold, and below this are ten vertical columns of text. The lid of the coffin itself is carved in high relief with a recumbent image of the dead king as Osiris. He wears a broad collar and wrist ornaments carved in low relief, while his arms, crossed on the chest, clutch the twin symbols of kingship, the crook (heqa Scepter) and the flail. The Two Ladies. Wadjet and Nekhbet, representing the divine cobra of Lower Egypt and the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, rose from the king's forehead. A small wreath tied around the pair was composed of olive leaves and flowers resembling the blue cornflower, bound onto a narrow strip of papyrus pith. The olive leaves were carefully arranged so that the green front of the leaves alternated with the more silver back surface. The original design of the outermost coffin's lid had incorporated four silver handles, two on each side, which were used to lower the lid into place. Some three thousand years later, these same handles would be used, once more to raise this lid, by Howard Carter and his team. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutcoffins.htm


The Innermost Coffin (lid)
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The Innermost Coffin The golden coffin measures about 1.88 meters in length. The metal was beaten from heavy gold sheet, and varies in thickness from .25 to .3 centimeters. In 1929, it was weighed, tipping the scales at 110.4 kilograms. Thus, its scrap value alone would today be in the region of 1.7 million USD. The image of King Tut that was sculpted on this coffin is today oddly ethereal, due to the decomposition of the calcite whites of the eyes. The pupils of the eyes are obsidian, while the eyebrows and cosmetic lines are inlaid with lapis-lazuli colored glass. The beard was worked separately and afterwards attached to the chin. It is also inlaid with lapis colored glass. The headdress on the coffin is the nemes, as was that of the second coffin, though here the pleating is in relief rather than indicated by inlays of colored glass. During this period of Egyptian history, males wore earrings only up until puberty, so when discovered, patches of gold foil concealed the fact that the ears, also cast separately, were pierced. At the neck of the coffin were placed two heavy necklaces of disc beads made of red and yellow gold and dark blue faience, threaded on what looked like glass bound with linen tape. Each of the strings had lotus flower terminals inlaid with carnelian, lapis and turquoise glass. Necklaces of this kind were awarded by Egyptian kings to military commanders and high officials for distinguished services. Below these necklaces was the falcon collar of the coffin itself, again created separately from the lid, and inlaid with eleven rows of lapis, quartz, carnelian, felspar and turquoise glass imitating tubular beadwork, with an outer edge of inlaid drops. Like the first and second coffins, the king's arms are shown crossed upon his chest in the Osirian manner, with sheet bracelets inlaid in a similar manner to the collar using lapis, carnelian and turquoise colored glass. The crook and flail are held in the left and right hands, overlaid with sheet gold, dark blue faience, polychrome glass and carnelian. Much of the decoration of the flail's shaft had decayed because of the application of the thick black resin with which the coffin had been so liberally anointed. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutcoffins.htm


Canopic Chest
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ When the gilded outer casing of the canopic shrine was removed, the canopic chest itself stood revealed, draped with a dark linen sheet (1.5 by 4.5 meters) folded over 3 times. Although examples of such chests had been encountered before, the pristine beauty now exposed was something quite new. With the shroud removed, it could be seen that the chest had been carved from a single block of delicately veined and semi-translucent calcite, picked out in contrasting dark blue pigment and with a gilded dado of double djed and tyet symbols. It stood upon a second wooden sled, gessoed and gilded in the usual manner and fitted at its northern and southern sides with four huge staples of silver-sheet covered bronze intended to serve as handles. Its sloping lid, which separated from the box below the cavetto cornice, was decorated at the front with the winged solar disc of Horus-of-Behdet. It was attached to the chest by means of cords passing through four pairs of gold staples, two pairs to either side, sealed with the ubiquitous jackal and nine captives motif. The chest decorated at its four corners with images of Isis (southwest corner), Nephthys (northwest), Selkis (northeast), and Neith (southeast), sculpted in high relief to the traditional proportions, while the front was dominated by a second winged disc surmounting six vertical columns of text spoken by the goddesses positioned to either side; further invocations are present on either side and the rear of the chest. With the lid of the canopic chest removed, four human-headed stoppers were exposed, arranged in pairs, those on the east facing west and the lids on the west facing east. Exquisitely modeled in calcite, each lid represents the king wearing the nemes-headcloth with separately modeled vulture head and uraeus. All four are hollowed out underneath and carry a symbol painted in black on the shoulder to identify the compartment for which they were intended. The facial features are carefully picked out with black, with dabs of red for the lips. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl27.htm


Alabaster Model of Unknown Use
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The most intricately carved of the calcite objects found in the Annex is this elaborate composition consisting of a base in the form of a chest, upon which are incised bands of floral and geometric patterns. The chest itself stands on four legs and has been partially hollowed out. From its center rises a trapezoidal support decorated with stalks of papyrus plants, and the boat rests upon it. The bow of the boat takes the form of the head and neck of an ibex, and another ibex, facing the same way, forms the stern. While the ears of both animals were pierced, the left ear of the rear figure retained its earring. An incised and painted pattern on the hull of the boat parallels the pattern on the base. Around the necks of both animals is a collar consisting of inlays of gold and colored glass. A figure of a seated female is carved at the front of the boat. Here, golden earrings, an armlet, and a bead bracelet are still intact, and her wig is carved from gray stone. She holds a stained ivory lotus in her left hand. Behind her is a canopy supported by four ornate columns each of which has four screen walls, which may represent as well a sarcophagus or a cabin. In shape, it is similar to the base of the composition, and it is decorated with floral as well as geometric patterns. It may have served as a container for oil or an unguent, but Carter did not record finding any substance remaining. He considered the piece an ornament or a centerpiece. At the rear of the object, another figure stands at the stern and holds a sounding pole in both hands. This one is a female dwarf, and she too wears a wig carved of gray stone. Like the horns of the vessel in the form of an ibex, those of both animals here are real ibex horns. The ibex on the prow still has its characteristic beard intact. The markings are painted, and the details of the eyes are painted on the underside of glass or crystal pieces. The throne name of the king and the personal names of both he and his wife are written on the front of the support. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl4.htm


The Sarcophagus
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The sarcophagus measures 2.74 meters long by 1.47 meters wide and is 1.47 meters high. It was carved from a single block of the hardest quartzite and was supported at each corner upon a block of calcite (alabaster). According the J. H. Breasted: When Carter and I opened the doors of the third and fourth shrines and beheld the massive stone sarcophagus within, I felt for the first time the majesty of the dead Pharaoh's actual presence. The sloping lid of the sarcophagus, with its winged sun disc at the head end and three vertical columns of incised hieroglyphs, was made of red granite, painted to match the yellow of the sarcophagus box. Obviously, the lid was not a match to the box, and Carter suggested that it was possibly a replacement for the intended lid, which had not been ready in time for the funeral. The lid was even cracked across the center, perhaps due to some accident at the time of its hurried installation. This crack was then filled with gypsum, which was itself touched up to blend in with the new color of the lid. The decorative theme of the sarcophagus is dominated by the four tutelary deities, Isis, Nephthys, Selkis and Neith, carved in high relief to the traditional proportions of the Pre-Amarna, 18-square grid and delicately picked out in colors. They stand at each of the four corners of the sarcophagus box, their winged arms outstretched to envelop the box in a protective embrace. The box has a cavetto cornice at the top edge, which is balanced at the bottom by a dado of double tyet and djed amuletes. Each long side of the sarcophagus is adorned with one horizontal and six vertical columns of deeply incised hieroglyphs and at its westernmost end is an incised Wadjet-eye. The east and west ends of the box are similarly inscribed with a single horizontal band of text and fourteen vertical texts. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutshrines.htm


Tut's Golden throne (back)
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The golden throne that Howard Carter discovered in the Antechamber beneath the hippopotamus couch is similar to the chair belonging to Sitamun. The style was popular for royal chairs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Instead of female torsos protruding from the seat, however, the more traditional lions are in their place. Carved of wood, the armchair is covered in gold, and there is some silver overlay as well. Colored glass, faience, calcite, and semi-precious stones are used for the inlays. The carved plant motif between the feline-form legs has been removed by the robbers, but the delicate openwork design of the arms remains intact. On either side, a winged cobra wears the double crown and rests on a basket. Her outstretched wings enclose the hieroglyphs for the king of Upper and Lower Egypt followed by the sign for infinity (shen). A cartouche of the king is at the end of her wings on either side of the chair. The back of the chair is supported by three vertical struts; the outer two are carved with the king's Aton name, the middle one with that of the queen. Four hooded cobra with solar disks rise up in pairs between each of the supports. A carved and gilded scene with birds in a thicket appears on the outer surface of the back of the seat. In the triangular opening formed between the diagonal of the back and the vertical support on each side is a hooded cobra. The one on the left wears the red crown of Lower Egypt, while the one on the right has the white crown of Upper Egypt. The iconography relates to Atonist doctrines, but the names of the king and queen appearing on the chair use both the earlier (Aton) and later (Amon) forms. Such a combination indicate that the chair was probably produced rather early in Tutankhamun's reign, during the period of transition to the orthodox religion. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl57.htm


Anubis shrine & Canopic Shrine
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ This recumbent figure of a jackal represents the god Anubis. Slightly more than three feet long, it crouched protectively near the entrance to the Treasury. Carved of wood that has been covered with a black resin, the life-size statue has gilded ears, collar and scarf. His nails are made of silver, the eyebrow and cosmetic line are gilded metal, and the eye is calcite and obsidian. The base upon which he rests, composed of carved and gilded wood, takes the shape of a shrine. Each side contains a central pattern bordered on three sides by an inscription. Symbols of the gods Isis and Osiris occur in some of the panels. The shrine is actually a compartmentalized chest which contained among other things, eight large pendants. Under the base was a sledge with four carrying poles. The statue was originally covered with a thin shawl and scarf, and around his neck was a floral garland. Over the figure was fringed linen that bore an inscription dated the seventh year of Akhenaton's reign. Anubis was the god of embalming, and, although in the earliest times he was the primary god of the Underworld, he is eventually replaced in that role by Osiris. At the judgment of the dead, Anubis is the master of the balance, the scale which weighs the heart of the deceased against the feather of Maat. If the pans do not tilt, the deceased would be brought before the god of the Underworld, Osiris, having been judged true of voice. The hearts of those who did not pass the test were devoured by a mythical beast. www.touregypt.net/museum/anubispage.htm Canopic shrine on gilt wooden sledge. It contained the alabaster canopic box which contained Tutankhamun's mummified internal organs. The four goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Selket and Neith surround the shrine with outstretched arms spreading protection over their charges.


Ostrich Feather Fan
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ In the burial chamber Carter discovered this fan, one made of ebony, a longbow and arrows. These objects were placed between the third and fourth (innermost) shrines that enclosed the sarcophagus, coffins, and mummy of the the king. In situ, but now no longer extant, were the remains of thirty ostrich feathers, alternating white and brown. Made of wood and covered in sheet gold, the fan was about four feet in length without the feathers. The semicircular holder with the plumes intact would have looked similar to a palm leaf, but the handle terminates in a papyrus at the bottom and what appears to be a stylized papyrus (or perhaps a lotus) at the top. An inscription engraved on the handle includes, as well as epithets of the king, information that the king secured the plumes during a hunting trip in the desert, east of the city of Heliopolis. The scene depicted on the front shows the king in his chariot hunting the ostrich from which the feathers would be obtained for the fan. The reverse side portrays the return from the fray, with two attendants in front of the royal chariot carrying the subdued ostriches. In the scene pictured here, we do not see the convention of portraying the bowstring behind (to the far side of) the face, as was the case on the golden shrine and the elaborately decorated chest. The inscription before him states: The good God, 'Ra is the Lord of Manifestations', Given Life, like Ra forever, Lord of Power Behind him is the wish that All protection of/and life be behind him. At the far left, rather than a servant, an anthropomorphized ankh carries a fan similar to the one illustrated here, and it indicates, as do frequent representations of such fans in use, that they function mainly as sunshades. www.touregypt.net/museum/fan2page.htm


Detail of the middle coffin
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ This particular photo was taken from the catalogue Carter tells us that it was a moment as anxious as exciting, when he lifted the lid of the outermost coffin. Within, what was expected to be found was indeed found, a second anthropoid coffin. Once again, the surface was concealed beneath a decayed shroud of linen, which in turn was obscured by floral garlands, and similar to the first coffin, there was a small wreath of olive leaves, blue lotus petals and cornflowers wrapped around the protective deities on the Pharaoh's brow. However, even before the linen covering was removed, Carter and his team decided to remove both the delicate lower half and contents of the outermost coffin from the sarcophagus. The fragile gessoed and inlaid surface of this outer relic required that this be performed with as little handling as possible. Therefore, steel pins were inserted through the inscribed tenons of the outermost coffin and pulleys were employed in a process that Carter records as a task of no little difficulty. Nevertheless, the outer coffin was lifted and then deposited upon trestles resting on the rim of the sarcophagus box without incident. Afterwards, the second coffin was soon revealed as even more magnificent than the first. It measured 2.04 meters long, and was constructed from a still unidentified wood covered as before with an overlay of gold foil. Here, the use of inlays were far more extensive than on the outermost coffin, even though they had suffered considerably from the presence of dampness within the tomb and showed a tendency to fall out. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutcoffins.htm


The Third Shrine, detail
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Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The third outer shrine is very similar in form to the second, with a sloping roof and, of course, somewhat smaller dimensions. It was 3.4 meters long by 1.92 meters wide with a maximum height of 2.15 meters. This structure was built using ten separate sections, and like the first shrine, it is gilded over its entire surface and decorated in sunk relief with vignettes and extracts from various Egyptian funerary texts. The roof of the third outer shrine depicts a winged solar disc and a vertical row of eight spread-winged birds, including four vultures, two mythical serpent-headed vultures and two falcons. The sides of the shrine are inscribed with abridged versions of the second and sixth divisions of the Book of What Is in the Underworld (the Amduat). The outer faces of the doors and the back panel of the shrine are inscribed with extracts from spell 148 of the Book of the Dead, and are adorned with four ram-headed guardian figures and four heralds, each grasping one or two knives, and variously represented as human-headed, antelope-headed or crocodile-headed. The decorative theme of the top of this shrine is balanced on the side of the roof with a similar decoration, consisting of a winged disc, five vultures, a serpent-headed vulture, a sixth vulture and a falcon. The inner walls of the shrine are decorated with processions of various gods, while on the inside door panels and end are shown Isis and Nephthys, their wings again outspread to protect King Tut. www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutshrines.htm


Unguent Jar in the Form of a Standing Lion
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ Found in the annex, this jar was one of the more than fifty vessels in the tomb. Made of calcite like the others, it is distinguished by its form which as the shape of a lion; its head and body, which were hollowed out, held the unguent. The crown functioned either as stopper or projecting neck and mouth for the jar. Unlike the many other containers in the tomb, this one still retained its contents, despite the fact that the crown had been detached in antiquity. The pedestal on which it stands is similar in design to contemporaneous jar stands and stools, and the bands of incised decoration are reminiscent of the borders of checkerboard pattern and stylized flower petals on the elaborately decorated chest. The support for his left paw takes the shape of the Egyptian hieroglyph sa (protection), and this fact reinforces the identification of the lion with the god Bes. His claws, apparently inlaid in ivory or gold, are no longer intact; the dew claw, a vestigial part of the paw, which is also indicated on the two front animal-form legs of chairs, is shown in raised relief on his right paw. His eyes are gilded, and his teeth and tongue are of ivory. A hole was carved in each ear for earrings, but neither one has survived. The inscription carved on his chest was filled in with colored pigment as was the case with the decoration on the crown and the base. It reads, The Good God, the Lord of the Two Lands, 'Ra is the Lord of Manifestations', 'Tutankhamun'; the Wife of the King, 'Ankhesenamun'. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl7.htm


Inside the Golden Shrine
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ Tutankhamun's small shrine is in the form of the sanctuary of Nekhbet mounted on a sledge. It is made of wood overlaid with a layer of gesso and covered with sheet gold. The wooden sledge is overlaid with silver. Carter was of the opinion that the gesso was first modeled in relief and the plain sheet gold was then pressed against it until it had registered the impression of the modeling, the outer face of the gold being finally chased. It seems doubtful, however, whether the gesso, even reinforced by gossamer-like linen, which a recent examination has shown to be present on both faces of the exposed gesso on the inside of one of the doors, would have had the strength to withstand the amount of pressure and friction involved in the process. If this doubt is valid, the scenes and inscriptions must have been worked on the gold itself; the gold sheets would then have been put face downward on a flat surface and covered with a piece of linen; the gesso in a liquid state would have been poured on the back of the linen so that it filled the depressions on the reverse side of the gold and, while it was still soft, the second piece of linen would have been applied to the outer surface. The purpose of the gesso would thus have been to give support to the decoration on the gold and to provide a flat surface for attachment to the wooden walls, roof, and door. Every exposed surface of the shrine is covered with scenes, inscriptions, or some other kind of decoration, all in reliefwww.touregypt.net/museum/tutl55.htm


Chariot detail
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ This particular photo was taken from the catalogue Introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos in the sixteenth century B.C., the chariot was throughout the New Kingdom closely associated with the king, who is constantly shown dominating the field of battle, the reins around his waist, firing his bow. Chariots begin to appear in Egyptian wall reliefs and paintings from the early 18th dynasty, and are mentioned as diplomatic gifts in the correspondence from el-Amarna. Until the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb only two complete vehicles were known - one now in Florence and another from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu - together with a miscellaneous array of chariot fittings and fragments from other tombs in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere. The burial of Tutankhamun yielded six complete but dismantled chariots of unparalleled richness and sophistication, four found at the southeast end of the Antechamber and two along the north wall of the Treasury. Each had had its axle sawn through to enable it to be brought along the narrow corridor into the tomb, and each had been broken down into its component parts for compactness when stored. Thrown about when the tomb was robbed, and roughly handled when the burial was tidied up, the confused and precarious heaps into which these parts had been thrown were a nightmare to untangle. But, after much delicate preservative work, five of the six chariots could be reassembled for display in the Cairo Museum. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl72.htm


South Wall – The God-King
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ South Wall – The God-King The king, having successfully travelled through the underworld, is welcomed to the Afterlife by Anubis, on the left, the jackal-headed god of embalming, and, on the right, the life giving Hathor, goddess of the west. A third figure, destroyed when Carter opened the burial chamber, shows Isis, the goddess of simplicity from whom all beginnings arise. Tutankhamun, who is now immortal, will begin the life-giving daily ritual. Contrary to popular belief today, the Pharaoh was not a god in and of himself. He was a god-king, an avatar, not an incarnation, and there is a subtle difference. The Pharaoh was believed to have the spirit of Horus, son of Osiris, residing within him and guiding him along the proper path of Maat. He also had the spirits of all his predecessors who dwelt with Osiris in the afterlife to aid him. Yet even with this he was not deemed infallible, for they would only support him so long as he upheld Maat. When the Pharaoh died his spirit joined those of his predecessors together with Osiris. From there he guided his successors as he had been guided in life. Thus a continuous cycle was set up: the living honouring and remembering the dead, and the dead aiding the living from the afterlife. All of this is connected through the Pharaoh, who is the emissary of both worlds and the link between Life and Death. heritage-key.com/egypt/tomb-paintings-art-afterlife


Gold Gilded Wooden Chariot
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ Introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos in the sixteenth century B.C., the chariot was throughout the New Kingdom closely associated with the king, who is constantly shown dominating the field of battle, the reins around his waist, firing his bow. Chariots begin to appear in Egyptian wall reliefs and paintings from the early 18th dynasty, and are mentioned as diplomatic gifts in the correspondence from el-Amarna. Until the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb only two complete vehicles were known - one now in Florence and another from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu - together with a miscellaneous array of chariot fittings and fragments from other tombs in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere. The burial of Tutankhamun yielded six complete but dismantled chariots of unparalleled richness and sophistication, four found at the southeast end of the Antechamber and two along the north wall of the Treasury. Each had had its axle sawn through to enable it to be brought along the narrow corridor into the tomb, and each had been broken down into its component parts for compactness when stored. Thrown about when the tomb was robbed, and roughly handled when the burial was tidied up, the confused and precarious heaps into which these parts had been thrown were a nightmare to untangle. But, after much delicate preservative work, five of the six chariots could be reassembled for display in the Cairo Museum. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl72.htm


Gold Bangle with Openwork Scarab Encrusted with Lapis Lazuli
Made by peregrin@away
Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Brussels. The Cinquantenaire Museum Exhibition Tutankhamun. His tomb and his treasures. www.kingtutbrussels.be/ The small circumference of this bracelet suggests that it was made for Tutankhamun when he was a child. Nevertheless, it agrees very closely in size with the bracelets that were placed on the forearms of his mummy and were though by Carter to have been worn by the king in his lifetime. It was found in the cartouche-shaped box that contained several other objects, including the fine pair of earrings which also seem to have been personal possessions. The bracelet's central feature is a gold openwork scarab encrusted with lapis lazuli. On each side is a narrow raised band composed of gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, quartz, and carnelian inlay, bordered on the inner edge with gold granules. The bands are continued on the back of the hoop. Two identical botanical ornaments flank the scarab, each consisting of a mandrake fruit supported by two poppy buds, with gold marguerites filling the interstices between the stems of the mandrake and the buds. The yellow and green colors of the mandrakes are painted at the back of the translucent quartz inlay. Both the hinge and the fastening are made of interlocking cylindrical teeth held together by long gold pins, the hinge pin being fixed and the other movable. www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl40.htm