Lady Tuty
Discovered in a communal tomb at Medinet Gurob, near the lush margins of the Faiyum, the wooden statuette of the “Lady of the House, Tuty” offers a glimpse into the refined world of Egypt’s late 18th Dynasty, during the reign of Amenhotep III. Shimmering with detail of glittering gold, she stands poised and slender, her form more traditional than that of her companion, Lady Mi, with whom she was found. Her pleated gown is carved with delicate precision, her elegance unmistakable; the great gilded earrings that still catch the light remain as quiet witnesses to a life once lived amid the splendour of the royal court.
Atop her head rests a curious cone of scented unguent; a perfumed ornament favoured by Egypt’s wealthy at banquets and festivals. As it slowly melted in the warmth, it released a fragrance of resins and oils that perfumed hair, linen, and the evening air. Such details root Tuty in the sensuous rituals of her age, when luxury and devotion intertwined. The fineness of her adornment and the artistry of her carving reveal a woman of high standing, perhaps attached to the palace household at Gurob; a place once known as Merwer, a royal enclave of Amenhotep’s glittering reign.
This technique was typical of luxury objects in the reign of Amenhotep III, when artists sought to blend natural texture with brilliance; letting the glow of varnished wood contrast with glints of metal and pigment. Complete gilding was usually reserved for divine or royal figures, whereas elite women like Tuty were depicted with partial gilding, suggesting refinement rather than divinity.
At her feet, a few delicate hieroglyphs record her name and title: “Lady of the House, Tuty”:
nbt pr (𓈖𓃀𓏏 𓉐) literally means “Mistress of the House”; a respectful and common title granted to women of high rank or married status.
Ttj (𓏏𓏏𓇌) is her personal name, Tuty (or Teti/Titi, depending on transliteration conventions).
It is a modest inscription, yet one that situates her within the world of Egypt’s elite women; keepers of the household, companions of the court, and participants in the perfumed rituals of luxury and devotion.
Carved in wood and touched with gold, Lady Tuty embodies the grace and quiet dignity of the New Kingdom’s noblewomen; figures who moved through perfumed halls, their beauty celebrated, their presence eternalised in art. In her serene stillness she remains what she once was: an image of elegance, faith, and fleeting luxury, preserved against time’s forgetting.
Recent X-ray images of Lady Tuty’s statuette, shared by the Brooklyn Museum’s conservation department, offer a hauntingly beautiful glimpse beneath her gilded surface.
Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. 54.187
Though no formal findings have been published, the radiographs reveal the quiet complexity of her making; the joins, dowels, and delicate internal scaffolding that hold her poised form together. Beneath the smooth exterior, her figure appears to have been carved from several pieces of wood, the head and perfumed cone fitted with slim pegs, the feet tenoned neatly into the base.
The Ancient Egyptian Harem: An Opium-Drenched Fantasy or Refined Commune of Courtly Women?
Faint variations in density hint at the remains of gilding upon her face and sandals, and a different grain beneath the wig, perhaps from another species of wood darkened with pigment or resin. In these ghostly X-rays, Lady Tuty seems at once ethereal and constructed; a masterpiece of craftsmanship whose unseen joinery mirrors the careful artistry of her age. Even stripped of colour and sheen, she retains a quiet dignity: the skeleton of elegance itself, laid bare and still sublime.
Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. 54.187
Summary:
Wooden Statuette of the Lady Tuty
Wood, gold leaf. H. 26 cm
New Kingdom, Late 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III, c. 1390–1352 B.C.
From Medinet Gurob, Egypt
Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. 54.187
