This is a masterpiece of pectoral from the collection of Tutankhamun. It is a pectoral decorated in a complex way: the central part of the pectoral, which represents the king’s throne name (or prenomen), consists in the middle of a large lapis lazuli scarab. Below it is the hieroglyphic sign “neb”, which resembles a basket inlaid with blue glass; above this are the solar and lunar disks made of electrum.

Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun (1340-1331 B.C.) in November 1922. The pharaoh died at the age of 19; his mummy was in a solid gold coffin placed inside two wooden coffins drink. These three coffins were in a quartzite sarcophagus with a red granite lid. Around the sarcophagus, fit into each other, four chapels in gilded wood entirely occupied the room of the sarcophagus.

This beautiful winged scarab pectoral illustrates the throne name of King Tutankhamun, “Neb- Kheprew-re.” The central element is the scarab “Khepri” made of a fine piece of lapis lazuli and three strokes of the plural “sign in hieroglyphs” below it.

The Image on the top: Wikimedia

Now let’s deeply read this ever-brilliant article by Marie Grillot about this incredible find of the fascinating ancient jewel.💖🙏

Tutankhamun: a scarab pectoral with his king’s name … in rebus

via égyptophile

After six years of intense and costly research, punctuated by enthusiasm, hope, fatigue and discouragement, perseverance finally triumphs in the Valley of the Kings! Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon finally discovered, in November 1922, the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun! Seven weeks will be necessary to empty the antechamber… On February 16, 1923, the seals affixed to the door leading to the funerary chamber were removed in the presence, in particular of Pierre Lacau, director general of the Service of Antiquities. The next day the official opening. Takes place On a particular day, and exceptional guests: the discoverers have invited twenty of them, selected with meticulous care. As impressed as they were dazzled, they discovered the large chapels of gilded wood which filled almost the entire room…

As they continue their incredible – and unforgettable – exploration, they see: “a low door, on the right, which gave access to another, smaller room. (…) This door had not been blocked nor sealed. A single glance is enough to make us understand that it was it which contained the true treasures of the tomb. (…) A tabernacle, entirely covered with gold and surmounted by a frieze of sacred cobras. Around it stood the four tutelary goddesses of the dead, their arms outstretched in protection, so natural and so alive in their pose, their faces expressing so much compassion and pity that one hardly dared to look at them. (Howard Carter in “The Fabulous Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb”).

In front of this naos, placed on the ground and to the left, are five chests containing sumptuous finery. They had been deposited there, most often pell-mell, by the employees of the necropolis responsible for handing over what remained of the funerary treasure after the passage of the looters… “According to an estimate by Carter, at least sixty per cent of the most beautiful ‘unattached’ jewels had disappeared. Those that remained – more than two hundred, including twenty precious metal breastplate elements and five counterweights – however, not insignificantly widened, both in quality and quantity, the range of jewels known at the time,” says Nicholas Reeves in “Tutankhamun, life, death and discovery of a pharaoh”.

The first ebony and ivory chest with a gently domed lid will be referenced; Carter 267. Inside “laid” eighteen pieces of gold smithery – abused but of exceptional quality: they will be referenced “267a”. to “267n”.

This beetle-shaped pectoral, 10.5 cm wide and 9 cm high, will be the first to be extracted (267a). The chain that slid into the horizontal cylinder attached to the back, allowing it to be hung around the king’s neck, is unfortunately missing.

It is distinguished “by a series of iconographic motifs endowed with a strong symbolic value, combined in a balanced and original composition, by the characteristic style of Tutankhamun’s jewellery. The lapis lazuli scarab, centre of the composition, is equipped with two large falcon wings, decorated using the technique of partitioning: the feathers of the bird are rendered by inlays of stones in pale colours, skilfully calibrated” (Silvia Enaudi, “The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo”). The cloisonné technique here reaches a degree of excellence where gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, and green feldspar explode in a shimmering polychromy that offers a strong contrast with the midnight blue of the beetle.

The scarab, a symbol of renewal and rebirth, is very present in Egyptian jewellery, especially in the young king’s adornments. This attribute of Khepri pushes here, between its legs with hooks encircled with gold, the glowing solar disk in carnelian circled with gold…

To symbolism, the goldsmith has combined cryptography. It turns out to be “a clever way of writing the king’s coronation name, Nebkhéperourê (‘Re is the master of manifestations’). The syllable neb (which means, in this context, ‘master’) is written with a basket encrusted with green feldspar on this pectoral. The scarab in dark blue lapis lazuli and the three lines indicating the plural signify Kheperu (‘forms’ or ‘manifestations’). The syllable ‘Rê ‘ is represented by the solar disk in red carnelian”, which specifies Zahi Hawass.

This pectoral also worked using the “repoussé” technique on the reverse, after having been cleaned with hot water and ammonia by Alfred Lucas, left for the Cairo Museum. It was recorded there in the Entry Journal: JE 61886. Its reference at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, where it will soon be exhibited, is GEM 159.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Howard Carter, The Tomb of Tutankhamun, Volume 3: The Annexe and Treasury, Bloomsbury, London, 2014

The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation – The Howard Carter Archives

http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/267a-c267a-2.html http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/267a-p1129.html

T.G.H. James, “Howard Carter, The path to Tutankhamun”, TPP, 1992https://archive.org/stream/HowardCarterThePathToTutankhamunBySam/Howard+Carter+The+Path+to+Tutankhamun+By+Sam_djvu.txt

The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation – The Howard Carter Archives – Photographs by Harry Burton – © Copyright Griffith Institute, 2000-2004

http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/267m(1).html

Toutankhamon et son temps, Petit Palais, Paris, 17 février-juillet 1967, Catalogue par Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, Ministère d’État Affaires Culturelles

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, Vie et mort d’un pharaon,  Hachette, 1963

Nicholas Reeves, Toutankhamon, vie, mort et découverte d’un pharaon, Editions Errance 

I.E.S. Edwards, Tutankhamun : his tomb and its treasures, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977

Jean Capart, Toutankhamon, 1923 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5611389t/f60.texte

Carol Andrews, Harry N. Abrams, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry, INC., Publishers, 1991

Francesco Tiradritti, Trésors d’Egypte – Les merveilles du musée égyptien du Caire

Zahi Hawass, Découvrir Toutankhamon, Editions du Rocher, 2015

Marc Gabolde, Toutankhamon, Pygmalion, 2015

Zahi Hawass, Catalogue de l’exposition “Toutankhamon, trésors du pharaon d’or”, IMG Melcher Media, 2018