ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Tutankhamun as a Child

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodNew Kingdom, Dynasty 18, Reign of Tutankhamun

Date1333-1324 BCE

MediumFrit (Egyptian blue)

Credit LineMohamed Farid Khamis/Oriental Weavers Fund

Dimensions7/8 x 1/2 x 1/2 in. (2.2 x 1.3 x 1.3 cm)

Object number2004.039.001

Label TextThis remarkable and tiny sculpture represents the boy king Tutankhamun as a child. He wears a pharaoh's blue crown and holds a finger to his mouth, an Egyptian motif indicating his youth. A famous example in solid gold was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun showing him with a blue crown and also sucking his finger. The representation may well be a hold-over from the Amarna Period when images of the royal offspring took the place of other divine images to symbolize rebirth. Egyptian blue is a glass frit, lying between faience and true glass in composition and structure. It was occasionally used for small sculptures, but was most frequently ground up and used as a blue pigment.
Exhibition HistoryFrom Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, 2006 - Present
Published ReferencesPeter Lacovara and Jasper Gaunt, "From Pharaohs to Emperors: Egyptian, Near Eastern & Classical Antiquities at Emory," Minerva 17 (January/February 2006): 9-16.
Emory Report 62 (September 21, 2009).

ProvenanceEx private collection, Europe. With Charles Ede Ltd., London, England, purchased from Christie's New York, December 5-6, 2001, lot 213. Purchased by MCCM from Ede.

Status

On view

Collections