Tutankhamun’s famous mask.

One of the most fascinating pieces of Ancient Egypt’s artwork was Tutankhamun’s famous

mask. It was a gold-made funerary mask of the young Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Tutankhamun ruled between 1323 and 1332 BC. The artists who made the mask took

approximately 70 days to come up with the design as well as the complete piece of art. The

radiant and smooth gold face resembled the likeness of the young pharaoh. The dimensions of

the mask were as follows: 21 inches tall, 19 inches deep, and 15.5 inches wide. It is mainly made

of gold (two sheets of high-karat gold) with traces of stones and color painting on the face. Gold

is linked to the Ra; the god of the sun and it helps pharaohs in their afterlife’s journey. Its face

resembles Queen Tiye, the grandmother of Tutankhamun. The pharaoh in the mask wears a

headcloth worn by most Ancient Egypt’s pharaohs. Also, the mask’s brow has emblems of cobra

and vulture. The Cobra emblem represents Wadjet while the vulture represents Nekhbet. The

mask resembles Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians believed that their

pharaohs preserved the Osiris likeness; thus, ruled the Kingdom in the afterlife (Kingdom of the

Dead). Finally, the eyes were made of semi-precious stones to symbolize royalty. The discovery

of this precious and famous artwork was by Howard Carter who was researching Ancient

Egypt’s culture and historical sites. The archaeologist discovered Tutankhamun’s famous mask

at The Tutankhamun’s tomb or burial chamber at the Valley of Kings in the 1920s. The mask

was originally a property of “Queen Nefetiti because her royal name, Ankhkheperure, was found

in a partly erased cartouche on the inside of the mask.” This means that archaeologists and

researchers believe that the name faintly inscribed on the mask was the name of the original

owner. As it was the Ancient Egyptian tradition, the mask was passed on from one pharaoh to
another. In the current day, the mask is housed in Egyptian Museum in Cairo where tourists and

visitors from all over the world got to see it.