The mask has fallen slightly back, thus its gaze is straight up to the heavens. The penultimate scene was disclosed – a very neatly wrapped mummy of the young king, with golden mask of sad but tranquil expression, symbolizing Osiris … the mask bears that god's attributes, but the likeness is that of – placid and beautiful, with the same features as we find upon his statues and coffins. On 28 October 1925, they opened the innermost of three coffins to reveal the gold mask, seen for the first time in approximately 3,250 years.

It would be another two years before the excavation team, led by the English archaeologist Howard Carter, was able to open the heavy sarcophagus containing Tutankhamun's mummy. Tutankhamun's burial chamber was found at the Theban Necropolis in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 and opened in 1923. Discovery įurther information: Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun The mask had to be restored in 2015 after its 2.5-kilogram (5.5 lb) plaited beard fell off and was hastily glued back on by museum workers.Īccording to the Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, the mask is 'not only the quintessential image from Tutankhamun's tomb, it is perhaps the best-known object from ancient Egypt itself.' Since 2001, some Egyptologists have suggested that it may originally have been intended for Queen Neferneferuaten. An ancient spell from the Book of the Dead is inscribed in hieroglyphs on the mask's shoulders. īearing the likeness of Osiris, Egyptian god of the afterlife, it is 54 centimetres (21.3 in) tall, weighs over 10 kilograms (22 lb) or 321.5 troy ounces, and is decorated with semi-precious stones. The death mask is one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt. 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 and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The mask of Tutankhamun is a gold funerary mask of the 18th-dynasty ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned 1334–1325 BC). Gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, obsidian, turquoise and glass paste ĥ4 × 39.3 × 49 cm (21.3 x 15.5 x 19.3 in)Ĭarter no. Gold mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun

The back of mummy gold mask clipart