Signet Ring of Tutankhamun

This elegant gold signet bears the young king’s throne name, Nebkheperure, identifying him as the earthly manifestation of the sun-god Ra. Each tiny sign, crisply cut into the oval bezel, would have impressed the royal name into clay or wax, sealing decrees with divine authority.

When you look closer, one sees the sun disc of Ra is ingeniously merged with the loop of the ankh, the ancient symbol of life; a graceful innovation from the Amarna age, when the sun itself was exalted as the visible giver of breath and being.

In this fusion of signs lies a quiet theology: life flows from the light of the sun, and the king, “Beloved of Amun, Lord of Eternity,” is its radiant intermediary upon earth.

Gleaming and compact, this ring is both ornament and oracle; a golden whisper of Tutankhamun’s divine identity, when the sunlight of Ra was thought to pulse through the very act of the royal seal.

There is no specific tomb or find-spot listed in its published details, so we cannot know for sure where it originated, or when in Tutankhamun’s reign it was made. However, we do have the measurements of the ring, and we can delve into them to discover more…

Measurements and Fit

Bezel: width 2.9 cm, height 1.9 cm
Ring diameter: 3.3 cm

A 3.3 cm internal diameter is actually quite large, closer to a modern adult male ring size (roughly a UK size V ½ or US 11). Even accounting for slight shrinkage due to wear or deformation, it would comfortably fit an adult or late-teen male hand, rather than a child’s.

If we compare it to rings from Tutankhamun’s tomb (found on his mummy and in boxes), those made for his youthful years are typically smaller, averaging 2.2–2.5 cm in internal diameter. Thus, this particular ring likely dates to the later years of his reign, when Tutankhamun was nearing adulthood, around 18 or 19 years old, close to his death.

The iconography supports this later dating as well. The way the sun disc merges with the ankh reflects the lingering Amarna-influenced solar theology, but the inclusion of Amun in the inscription (“Beloved of Amun, Lord of Eternity”) clearly belongs to the restoration period, when the cult of Amun had been reinstated.

This synthesis (Aten-inspired artistry with Amun-devoted text) fits beautifully within Tutankhamun’s post-Amarna aesthetic, roughly the last half of his nine-year reign (c. 1332–1323 B.C.).

Summary:

Gold Signet Ring of Tutankhamun

Gold, engraved with the throne name “Nebkheperure (Lord of the Manifestations of Ra)” & flanking inscription of “Beloved of Amun, Lord of Eternity.”

Dimensions: bezel 2.9 × 1.9 cm; ring diameter 3.3 cm.

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1330 B.C.

Purchased in Cairo, December 1921, from Nicholas Tano; funded by Edward S. Harkness. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 22.9.3