The Tomb of Tutankhamen

Harry Burton, Howard Carter with Innermost Coffin of Tutankhamun, 1922 (Tutankhamun Archive, Griffith Institute, University of Oxford)


                        The artwork I've chosen to write about today is the coffin and tomb of King Tutankhamen (how original, I know). His tomb is a piece of history that has been retold for years, across the span of generations. it seems that when they dug up this ancient piece of history in Egypt, it really was close to being, well, not part of history as we know it today i was surprised to find (https://smarthistory.org/tutankhamuns-tomb-innermost-coffin-and-death-mask/). In 1922, an archaeologist by the name of Howard Carter discovered the once lost tomb of King tut, in turn saving the story of the now world famous Egyptian pharaoh.

Harry Burton, View of tomb interior, 1922 (Tutankhamun Archive, Griffith Institute, University of Oxford)
                        
                        In the early 20th century, archaeologist Howard Carter searched through the what is known as the Valley of the Kings, a "Royal Burial Ground" area around the west banks of the ancient city of Thebes for years finding not much evidence of the tomb of Tutankhamen. In the next year Carter would spend the money he was given by his financial backer the Earl of Carnarvon discovering ancient artifacts beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The ancient, though nearly perfectly intact, tomb held many different kinds of weapons, artifacts, and art pieces of all sorts from the ancient Egyptian civilization. Of the many treasures and artifacts, a couple of the most famous are King Tuts burial mask and royal coffin.

Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1323 B.C.E., gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)            Death Mask from innermost coffin, Tutankhamun’s tomb, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1323 B.C.E., gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones (Egyptian Museum, Cairo) (photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0                
                        
                        The famed Tutankhamen coffin was definitely made for royalty, and the artistry of it really comes out in the detail work of the many layers of the sarcophagus and hidden inside. It was found to be encased in two layers of wooden coffins lined with gold and semi precious stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. Though the coffin itself was made up of solid gold, fitting for a king. The death mask however, is more on the ceremonial side. It was made by two pieces of solid gold plates hammered together in the likeness of what they at the time knew the gods to look like. They would dress the solid gold mask with different god like aspects and images, even different wraps with spells to help guide the pharaoh to the afterlife. The spells were made to protect each of the different limbs while the deceased made their way to joining the gods, while the gold coffin made their soul in the likeness of the gods. 


Comments

  1. Lily EdgingtonSeptember 16, 2020 at 12:43 AM

    Great job on your research. I definitely learned a lot from reading!

    ReplyDelete

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