Tutankhamun’s Artisans

Golden coffin, from the exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the PharoahsToday I finally made it to the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Melbourne Museum – and not before time, as it was the last day. I have always loved ancient history (I still have my grade 7 history book on the subject stored somewhere) and was fascinated to see artefacts from antiquity. But what I was really looking forward to seeing was the jewellery.

Disappointingly, there wasn’t so much of it, but what was there was spectacular. The craftsmanship of Tutankhamun’s jewellers is breathtaking, the pieces just gorgeous. So much painstaking detail went into the creation of these collars, pectorals (chest plates) and headdresses – what skill and patience is evidenced in their construction!

CollarThe pieces are of gold and precious stones, although glass and faience were often used in imitation of the rare lapis lazuli and turquoise – although undoubtedly no expense would be spared for the royal family.

Below is a painting depicting jewellers and metalworkers of the 18th Dynasty, from a fragment in the Theban tomb of Sobkhotep, a civil administrator from a district near Cairo. In the upper register, two men use bow-driven multiple drills to create red stone beads, probably of carnelian, which a third polishes on a wooden block. The figure on the left of the lower register assembles a decorative collar from a variety of materials. On the right, workers can be seen using blowpipes to stoke their charcoal fires, their silver and gold products displayed above them.

Image from ‘The Art of Egyptian Hieroglyphs', Hamlyn, 1997. Click for larger image.Scroll down to see more of the treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Headdress; Tutankhamun was wearing this in his coffin Pectoral; blue skin indicated divinityFalcon collar