Tutankhamun on a Funerary Bed:
The unexpected death of the young pharaoh in 1323 B.C. was mourned throughout Egypt. Except for the busy necropolis workshops, all labor halted and a period of ritual fasting was observed in addition to which the pharaoh’s men stopped shaving until his burial 70 days later, the customary interval required for the mummification process. One such high official was Maya, the overseer of works in the Place of Eternity (the royal necropolis), royal scribe, and overseer of the burial treasury, who appears to have felt some affection for the young pharaoh. In addition to supervising Tutankhamun’s burial preparations in an unfinished and hastily appropriated commoner’s tomb, Maya’s personal sentiments are reflected in his touching funerary gift of this finely carved wooden ushabti figure, utterly unique in form, representing the pharaoh recumbent on a lion-headed bier.
Wishing Cup:
This stately drinking chalice, carved from a single block of alabaster, represents a blooming white lotus flanked with handles sculpted in the form of blue lilies, each surmounted by a kneeling figure of the god of eternity, Heh, resting on the sign for infinity and holding the hieroglyphic symbols for 100,000 years of life. It was found directly inside the tomb entrance, apparently the last object to be placed by the burial priests (or abandoned by the graverobbers). Called a “wishing cup” by Howard Carter, the chalice is inscribed with the pharaoh’s royal cartouches and bears a blessing engraved in a band around the lip: May your spirit live and may you spend millions of years, you who cherish Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, you eyes gazing upon joy.
Bust of Tutankhamun on a Lotus:
While Howard Carter was locked out of the tomb by the Egyptian government, an official inventory of its separately stored contents revealed this painted wooden bust of the young pharaoh, undocumented and previously unknown to the authorities, suspiciously concealed inside a small wooden box. Bearing the misleading emblem of the English vintners Fortnum & Mason, it was obviously prepared for shipping. Carter’s embarrassed explanation was that the sculpture had been found in the rubble filling the tomb’s corridor (where it had presumably been abandoned in antiquity the fleeing robbers) along with a number of other objects that were “not yet fully registered.” The portrait faithfully captures Tutankhamun’s elongated platycephalic skull, a common feature among members of the inbred royal family of Amarna. A touching likeness of the young pharaoh, the sculpture represents him as the solar deity emerging from the corolla of the primordial lotus at the moment of creation. As a ritual object it symbolizes his divine rebirth every day with the rising sun.
The unexpected death of the young pharaoh in 1323 B.C. was mourned throughout Egypt. Except for the busy necropolis workshops, all labor halted and a period of ritual fasting was observed in addition to which the pharaoh’s men stopped shaving until his burial 70 days later, the customary interval required for the mummification process. One such high official was Maya, the overseer of works in the Place of Eternity (the royal necropolis), royal scribe, and overseer of the burial treasury, who appears to have felt some affection for the young pharaoh. In addition to supervising Tutankhamun’s burial preparations in an unfinished and hastily appropriated commoner’s tomb, Maya’s personal sentiments are reflected in his touching funerary gift of this finely carved wooden ushabti figure, utterly unique in form, representing the pharaoh recumbent on a lion-headed bier.
Wishing Cup:
This stately drinking chalice, carved from a single block of alabaster, represents a blooming white lotus flanked with handles sculpted in the form of blue lilies, each surmounted by a kneeling figure of the god of eternity, Heh, resting on the sign for infinity and holding the hieroglyphic symbols for 100,000 years of life. It was found directly inside the tomb entrance, apparently the last object to be placed by the burial priests (or abandoned by the graverobbers). Called a “wishing cup” by Howard Carter, the chalice is inscribed with the pharaoh’s royal cartouches and bears a blessing engraved in a band around the lip: May your spirit live and may you spend millions of years, you who cherish Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, you eyes gazing upon joy.
Bust of Tutankhamun on a Lotus:
While Howard Carter was locked out of the tomb by the Egyptian government, an official inventory of its separately stored contents revealed this painted wooden bust of the young pharaoh, undocumented and previously unknown to the authorities, suspiciously concealed inside a small wooden box. Bearing the misleading emblem of the English vintners Fortnum & Mason, it was obviously prepared for shipping. Carter’s embarrassed explanation was that the sculpture had been found in the rubble filling the tomb’s corridor (where it had presumably been abandoned in antiquity the fleeing robbers) along with a number of other objects that were “not yet fully registered.” The portrait faithfully captures Tutankhamun’s elongated platycephalic skull, a common feature among members of the inbred royal family of Amarna. A touching likeness of the young pharaoh, the sculpture represents him as the solar deity emerging from the corolla of the primordial lotus at the moment of creation. As a ritual object it symbolizes his divine rebirth every day with the rising sun.
