Mask of Tutankhamun
The gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun is an example of the highest artistic and technical achievements of the ancient Egyptians in the New Kingdom.
After being buried for over 3,000 years, it was excavated by Howard Carter in 1925 from tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. Covering the head of the wrapped mummy in its coffin and activated by a magical spell, no.151b from the Book of the Dead, the mask ensured more protection for the king’s body.
The exact portrayal of the king’s facial features achieved here made it possible for his soul to recognize him and return to his mummified body. Thus ensuring his resurrection. It was discovered by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1925.
On his brow is the kingly uraeus: the cobra Wadjet, representing Lower Egypt, combined with the vulture Nekhbet of Upper Egypt.
The combination of the two is symbolic of his domination of both lands. That is strikingly similar to the Narmer Palette‘s message of control of both halves of Egypt.
Death Masks in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. Death masks were used to cover the face of mummies and ensure that the spirit of the dead person was able to recognize the body.
Royal death or funerary masks, such as the fabulous gold death mask of Tutankhamun, King Tut, were made of gold in the image of the deceased.
From the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1938-1630 BC) to the 1st century CE, the ancient Egyptians placed stylized masks with generalized features on the faces of their dead.
The funerary mask served to guide the spirit of the deceased back to its final resting place in the body.
Related: Golden Throne of Tutankhamun
“Thy right eye is the night barque (of the sun-god), thy left eye is the day-barque, thy eyebrows are (those of) the Ennead of the Gods, thy forehead is (that of) Anubis, the nape of thy neck is (that of) Horus, thy locks of hair are (those of) Ptah-Sokar.
(Thou art) in front of the Osiris (Tutankhamun). He sees thanks to thee, thou guidest him to the goodly ways, thou smitest for him the confederates of Seth so that he may overthrow thine enemies before the Ennead of the Gods in the great Castle of the Prince, which is in Heliopolis … the Osiris, the King of Upper Egypt Nebkheperure [Tutankhamun’s throne-name], deceased, given life by Re.”
The Worth of the Mask of Tutankhamun
The death mask of Tutankhamun is considered one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art. The head is covered by the royal headdress and the forehead bears the emblems of kingship and protection: the vulture and uraeus, or rearing cobra.
It is constructed of two sheets of gold that were hammered together and weighs 22.5 pounds (10.23 kg). The gold sheets used in this wonderful mask are joined together by heating and hammering.
The eyes are of obsidian and quartz and the eyebrows and eyelids are inlaid with lapis lazuli. The broad inlaid collar of semi precious stones and colored glass ends in falcon heads.
The Discovery of Tutankhamun Mask
It is one of those strange quirks of history that Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb exactly 100 years after Jean-François Champollion cracked ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphs.
Champollion’s breakthrough in 1822 unlocked the civilization’s rich written archive, while Carter’s discovery offered an unadulterated view of pharaonic opulence.
When archaeologist Howard Carter held up a candle to peer inside on November 26, 1922, the light glinted on golden objects. This tomb, belonging to king Tutankhamun, would soon become the most famous ancient Egyptian discovery of all time.
Related: Inside the Tomb of Tutankhamun
A photograph taken in 1937 shows the mask at top with the beard lying below. The lump on the bottom left is part of a collar of gold and faience beads that had been attached around the neck of the mask.
What did Howard Carter say about Tutankhamun?
“We were astonished,” said Howard Carter, “by the productivity of the art which the tomb contained. Tutankhamun’s tastes might have been those of an average young Egyptian nobleman rather than of a royal prince. Domestic affection was suggested, rather than the religious austerity that characterized other tombs.
We know very little of this shadowy king, who has been so much discussed. We do not know whether he was even of royal blood or where he came from, or why the heretic king chose him as a husband for his daughter.
Perhaps he lived at Thebes so that the king should have a strong supporter there, and he was afterwards compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of Amun-Re. It was by virtue of that acknowledgment that he was buried at Thebes.
Was it made for somebody else?
“A recent analysis of the mask’s construction by the Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves suggests that its face section, representing an idealised portrait of the young Tutankhamun, replaced an earlier one. If this was the case, the mask originally belonged to someone else.
The most likely candidate is King Neferneferuaten, who appears to have been Tutankhamun’s predecessor and may even have been the famous Queen Nefertiti ruling as king.
A number of Neferneferuaten’s funerary goods were adapted for Tutankhamun’s use, suggesting that she was never buried with them. Intriguingly, one of the mask’s cartouches—the long ovals that contain two of a king’s five names—was changed to Tutankhamun from Neferneferuaten.”
— The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy Who Became King, Garry J. Shaw
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the exhibition at the British Museum in London on March 29, 1972. The Queen was among the staggering 1.6 million visitors to the Museum’s exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of Tutankhamun’s tomb being discovered by the Earl of Carnavon and Howard Carter.
Related: Opening of the Mouth Ceremony, Tutankhamun
Fifty objects found in the tomb were displayed including the gold portrait mask from this great king’s mummy, gold jewelry and gold figures of the king.
Here the Queen is pictured in front of the incredible gold death mask. The objects were on loan from the Department of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt and this was the first time many of the objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb had traveled outside of Egypt.
The Innermost shrine of Tutankhamun
The innermost of Tutankhamun’s four shrines was constructed from five separate sections. A representation in miniature of the prehistoric ‘Palace of the North’, the Per-nu, its roof is barrel-vaulted, decorated in bas relief with kneeling figures of Isis, Nephthys, Serket and Neith, alternating with wadjet eyes, recumbent Anubis dogs and vultures, each on a pylon.
The right and left side panels carry respectively a procession of Imsety, Anubis, Duamutef and Geb, and of Hapy, Anubis, Qebehsenuef and Horus between figures of Thoth supporting the sky; the end panel and outside door panels carry protective images of the winged Isis and her sister Nephthys.
The ceiling of the innermost shrine is decorated with a magnificent representation of the goddess Nut, again with outspread wings, flanked by the falcon-headed Horus. Isis and Nephthys again guard the doors, while the interior wall panels carry the text of spell 17 from the Book of the Dead.
“Book of the Dead” is a modern term to describe a series of ancient Egyptian funerary spells that helped the deceased find their way to the afterlife in order to become united with the god of the dead, Osiris. There are nearly 200 known spells, but they weren’t collected into books in our current sense of the word.
“Tutankhamun’s gold mask ranks today as one of the most famous artworks in the world. For more than [ninety]-five years it has been subjected to the unremitting gaze of countless millions–viewed at first hand on exhibition in the [Museum of Egyptian Antiquities], Cairo and elsewhere, and featured in endless books, magazines, and television documentaries.
Tutankhamun helped restore traditional Egyptian religion and art, both of which had been set aside by his predecessor, Akhenaten. He issued a decree restoring the temples, images, personnel, and privileges of the old gods.
It is not only the quintessential image from Tutankhamun’s tomb, it is perhaps the best-known object from ancient Egypt itself.”
― Tutankhamun’s Mask Reconsidered, by Nicholas Reeves
Where is Tutankhamun mask now?
The mask of Tutankhamun is currently displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in Cairo, and is scheduled to be transferred with the rest of the boy king’s treasures to the new Grand Egyptian Museum. JE 60672
