The Royal Love Story: Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun's Floral Pavilion Encounter

• 

• 

Reproduction Details

• Type: Throne, furniture

• Date: Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun, c. 1336-1327 BC

• Findspot: Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings

• Materials: Wood, gold, silver, faience, glass, calcite, quartz, semi-precious stones

• Size: H. 104.0cm; W. 53.0cm; L. 64.5cm; H. of seat from ground 51.7cm

• Excavation inventory number: No 91

• Current location: Egyptian Museum, Cairo

• Object number: JE 62028

• Print Reference: DP51A

Purchase

My reproduction of a scene from the golden throne of Tutankhamun dating to Dynasty 18.

One of the masterpieces of Egyptian art and workmanship, the throne features an evocative image of the young king with his wife, Ankhesenamun, in a floral pavilion. Picked out in a variety of precious metals and gemstones is Tutankhamun, reclining on a throne as Ankhesenamun rubs perfume into his shoulders from the bowl she is carrying.

The chair had been modified several times before it was placed into Tutankhamun’s death. Both their names in cartouches were altered to reflect the move away from the one god Aten back to the worship of Amun and the wider Egyptian pantheon. The Aten sun disc still sits above the couple, with life-giving rays of light touching their faces, partly obscured by their crowns which were added later.

Iconography

The Text

The cartouches to the left of Tutankhamun

Son of Ra,

Tutankhamun heqa Iunu shemai (The living image of Amun, ruler of southern Heliopolis),

King of Upper and Lower Egypt,

Nebkheperura (Lord of the forms of Ra),

Given life like Ra.

The cartouches to the left of the Aten disc

The living one, the Sun, ruler of the Akhet, who becomes active in the Akhet,

In his identity as the light that comes in the sun-disc,

Given life for Eternity.

The cartouches to the right of the Aten disc

[to be translated]

The text to the right of Ankhesenamun

Noblewoman, great in favours, possessor of charm, sweet of love, Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lady of the Two Lands, Ankhesenamun, may she live forever.

Further Reading

Tutankhamun’s Golden Armchair: Its Original Owner and Shape Reconsidered by Ilinca Bartos

Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt, c. 1480-1350 BC by Gay Robins