This head was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, at the very threshold of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Fashioned from wood and standing at a modest 30 centimetres in height, it bears a fragile stucco coating, once painted a vivid red but now sadly scarred by age and circumstance. There is...
Among the earliest treasures glimpsed by Howard Carter when he first peered into the antechamber of KV62 on 4 November 1922 lay a vessel of almost poetic delicacy: a chalice carved from a single piece of translucent alabaster, shaped as a white lotus in full bloom. Dating to the reign of Tutankhamun (c. 1332–1323 B.C.),...
On this finely carved slab, five elegant women attend to a fragrant art: the pressing of lotus blossoms. Three clasp the long-stemmed flowers in hand, while two twist bulging sacks filled with petals, coaxing forth the nectar which drips into the vessel below. At first glance it is an image of industry, yet beneath lies...
