Item TAA ii.6.82 - Carrying Tutankhamun's "mannequin" in the Valley of the Kings

1 postcard

Formerly with an online postcard dealer in the U.S.A. in August 2023.

The Griffith Institute purchased the postcard in August 2023.

• Postcard
• Photograph, photographer not known.
• The photograph was probably taken in early 1923; the postcard's production date is unknown, but it was almost certainly in the 1920s.
• (Carter 116)
• An Egyptian team member carrying the wooden portrait figure of Tutankhamun, the so-called "mannequin", from the King's tomb to the nearby "Laboratory" tomb (KV 15, of Sethos II) for cleaning and conservation. The man holding the bust is escorted by an armed guard and another Egyptian excavation team member, which was necessary to ensure the safe movement of objects through the Valley of the Kings following the announcement of the tomb's discovery, which attracted large crowds of journalists and tourists who flocked to Luxor hoping to see the tomb and view objects as they were being moved.
• The portrait bust of Tutankhamun [Carter 116] was found in the tomb's Antechamber. The King is portrayed wearing a yellow flat-topped crown featuring the centrally positioned uraeus on the crown's temple band. The King also wears a close-fitting white garment.
• The bust's purpose is unclear, but it probably displayed part of the King's regalia. A recent proposal is that it may have been originally used for supporting and storing the King's gold corset (Carter 54k) in the tomb. When thieves ransacked the tomb in antiquity, these robbers likely removed the corset from the bust before breaking the heavy regalia into smaller, portable pieces.

Property of the Griffith Institute. No restrictions.

Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.

Archived scan in Griffith Institute.

• http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/116.html

• http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4anacpho.html

• Acquired with TAA ii.6.72-81b, 83-7 (postcards from the same series).