This is one of four jars that were found in a calcite chest, topped with a lid bearing the bust of the pharaoh. During the mummification process, the deceased’s internal organs (with the exception of the heart), were removed, embalmed and placed in canopic jars. Here, we reveal some of the treasures to look out for.Īdorned with gold, coloured glass and carnelian, this elaborate coffinette was used to store Tutankhamun’s liver, the organ protected by the gods Imseti and Isis. From amulets and life-size statues to gilded chests and furniture, a new exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery brings together more than 150 original objects from the pharaoh’s tomb. Following Tutankhamun’s death, the memory of the king was forgotten for millennia, until Carter and his team found a rubble-filled stairway in the Valley of the Kings. Born in c.1342 BC, Tutankhamun became pharaoh aged just nine years old, and is believed to have died a few years later, around age eighteen.
Since Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the legend and treasures surrounding the boy-king have become a source of global fascination.