Golden Sandals of a Foreign Bride of Thutmose III

Fashioned from the thinnest sheets of shimmering gold, these delicate sandals were never meant to grace a living foot. Instead, they were lovingly crafted to adorn the body of the deceased, guiding her in gilded splendour into the afterlife.

Beautiful though they are, one imagines they would have been dreadfully uncomfortable for earthly wandering, and so, their purpose was purely funerary, a final touch of royal finery for a cherished consort.

Originally, these golden sandals would have adorned the feet of a mummy. Yet by the time they were unearthed, their owner had long vanished. The burial had been disturbed in antiquity, the mummy lost to time, leaving only these gleaming traces of a life once wrapped in royal finery.

Measuring 25.5 cm in length, these sandals appear roughly equivalent to a modern US women’s size 8–8.5. However, this does not reflect the wearer’s true foot size in life. Funerary sandals were crafted to fit over the linen-wrapped feet of a mummy, and those layers of bandaging added considerable bulk. In reality, her feet would have been smaller (likely around 24–24.5 cm), a perfectly ordinary size, simply given a little extra room for the journey into eternity.

Summary:

Funerary Sandals of a Foreign Wife of Thutmose III

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1479–1425 B.C.

From the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III, Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud, Thebes.

Purchased in Luxor (1919-1920) with other objects presumed to be from Western Thebes, Tomb 1. Met Museum. 26.8.146a, b