Tutankhamun's gods

Image credit: Griffith Institute, University of Oxford

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Howard Carter found twenty-nine small statues of deities in Tutankhamun's tomb, all concealed within twenty-two small black shrines, the doors of each shrine secured by a cord and seal fastening. These ritual statues, in zoomorphic and anthropomorphic forms, represent the gods protecting and assisting the King during his dangerous journey through the underworld. Most of the wooden figures measure between 55 and 60 cm in height. Their surfaces are either painted mainly black with gilded details or vice versa as the ancient Egyptians associated the colour black with the Nile's dark, fertile soil, linked to regeneration and rebirth, and regarded gold as the 'flesh of the gods'. The four statues featured here in Harry Burton's photograph are, from left to right, the falcon-headed Qebhsenuef and jackal-headed Duamutef.

Griffith Institute, University of Oxford

Oxford

Title

Tutankhamun's gods

Date

1926

Medium

gelatin silver print

Measurements

H 17.9 x W 23.9 cm

Accession number

Burton p1665

Acquisition method

gift, 1946

Work type

Photograph

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Griffith Institute, University of Oxford

Sackler Library, 1 St John Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 2LG England

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