Mask of King Amenemope
This splendid funerary mask once adorned the mummy-shaped coffin of king Amenemope, a little-known but intriguing sovereign of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty. Fashioned from thick sheets of hammered gold, the mask was crafted to immortalise the features of the king with idealised serenity and timeless radiance.
The visage is round and youthful, framed by a regal nemes headdress and crowned with the uraeus, the sacred rearing cobra that signified divine authority and royal protection. The uraeus, made of solid gold, is particularly elaborate in form: its sinuous body coils elegantly downward before arching up in a poised strike, symbolising vigilant power. It is richly inlaid with red stone and bright turquoise, contrasting with the warm glow of the gold. The eyes are delicately bordered with bronze, with pupils and eyebrows likewise rendered in dark metal, lending the face a lifelike and dignified presence.
Amenemope was originally interred in the modest single-chamber tomb NRT IV within the royal necropolis at Tanis, in the eastern Nile Delta. However, several years after his burial (most likely under the reign of his successor Siamun) his body was reinterred in tomb NRT III, within a chamber believed to have once belonged to Queen Mutnedjmet, who may have been his mother. His final resting place lay adjacent to that of Psusennes I, one of the most powerful kings of the period.
Remarkably, the tomb was found undisturbed when it was rediscovered in April 1940 by the French Egyptologist Pierre Montet, aided by Georges Goyon. Their work at Tanis was abruptly interrupted by the Nazi invasion of France only a month later. Excavations resumed in 1946, and Montet published his monumental findings in 1958, revealing a cache of royal burials that offered a northern counterpart to the more famous Valley of the Kings.
The funerary assemblage of Amenemope, though overshadowed by the grandeur of Psusennes I’s burial, remains an exquisite testament to the craftsmanship and continuity of royal funerary tradition during the Third Intermediate Period, a time often perceived as one of political fragmentation but artistic resilience.
Summary:
Gilded gold funerary mask of king Amenemope, from Tanis
Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty, c. 1001–992 B.C.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 86059
