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This pair of life-sized
statues was found in a small entrance room of Tutankhamun's tomb in the
Valley of the Kings, poised like sentries. They've been identified
as "Ka" statues, or representations of his soul or spirit.
Both figures are
wearing a kilt with some very serious pleating, the one on the left wears
a "khat" head dress, the one on the right a "nene" head dress.
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A side view of the
statue which is on the right, above.
It's thought that
the black colouring is supposed to invoke the richness and fertility of
the black silt which the Nile deposited each year when it overflowed, and
which Egypt depended on for its existence. It was the normal
convention in Egyptian art for males to be shown with dark skin and females
with light skin, presumably to show that they spent their time indoors. |
| This is a very intriguing
and surprising artifact. Apparently it's a mannikin of the
young pharoah used by his clothesmakers, as you can see from the roughness
of the painting, and the way the paint ends abruptly at his neckline.
It seems strange that this would be buried with him. |
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Now he gets to look
at all the tourists going past, which must be one heck of a lot better
than being stuck in that dark old tomb with nothing to do for millenia. |
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This is the only
statue I remember seeing where he's actually doing anything except standing
around with his best foot forward. It's very rare in classical
Egyptian statuary for the pharoah to be shown doing anything - almost without
exception the king is shown in a static pose.
Here, he's standing
on a small papyrus raft, re-enacting the role of the god Horus hunting
the god Seth in the form of a hippopotamus. I have no idea what he
has in his left hand.
At the far end of
the cabinet you can see a leopard, which carries another small statue,
one of four in this display case. |
| Two more statuettes
from the same display case, all made of wood covered in gold.
They are part of a set of 32 which were in the tomb, some of which depict
Tutankhamun acting out various Egyptian myths.
Both of these show
him with a crook in his left hand and a flail in his right hand.
Egypt was historically divided into Upper Egypt, roughly south of where
Cairo is now, and Lower Egypt, where the Nile spreads across the delta
in many separate branches. The image on the left shows Tutankhamun
wearing the crown of Upper Egypt, and the image on the right shows him
wearing the crown of Lower Egypt. These two crowns were often
combined to represent power over the whole of Egypt. |
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This is the statue
which is mounted on a leopard. Here he's back in the crown
of Upper Egypt, and looking like a very arrogant little dictator, quite
different from the sweet kid portrayed on the face of the mannikin.
The bulging stomach
and prominent breasts are reminiscent of the unusual and somewhat androgynist
artistic style of Tutankhamun's heretic father or grandfather Akhenaten. |
| This side view of
the same statue shows that he definitely needs to work on his butt, too.
Off at the far end
of the cabinet you can see the funny little stylized boat that the spear-wielding
figure is standing on. |
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You
can see more representations of Tutankhamun on the page showing his
Death Mask and Coffins.
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