Mannequin

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs

Carved of wood and then covered in gesso and painted, this bust of Tutankhamun portrays the young king much more as a youthful figure than a divine being. Although wearing a royal crown with a cobra deity projecting at his brow, he has on a simple linen shirt through which the upper part of his rib cage shows. He has a pleasant smile, and his earlobes are pierced, a custom for both males and females during this period. The excavators suggested that the enigmatic statue may have served as a clothes dummy on which garments of the king could be draped or his jewelry displayed.