Ceremonial Shields of Tutankhamun

Among the military equipment found in the tomb of Tutankhamun were eight shields, four of which are ceremonial and are of openwork wood, incised and gilded.

On this shield, a winged sun disk curves around the top, protecting the king who is shown with a scimitar in one hand and holding two lions by their tails in his other hand. The lions symbolise the enemies of Egypt.

Behind the king, the vulture goddess, Nekhbet, spreads out her wings for the king’s protection. Below, a band of decoration suggests the mountains of the desert.

A ceremonial shield of wood of openwork covered with stucco, gilt and inlaid with ebony. The symbolical device represents the king as a human headed sphinx wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, trampling upon African (southern) foes of Egypt. Behind the king a face, above which a hawk holding in its talons the shen sign. The whole device is surmounted with the winged-solar-disk.

New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty, reign of Tutankhamun, ca. 1332-1323 BC. From the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings, Thebes. Now in the Grand Egyptian Museum.