This funerary mask fits over the wrapped head and upper body of Tjuya, a powerful and wealthy woman who was buried in the sacred Valley of the Kings. Tjuya, the mother-in-law to King Amenhotep III, was most likely Tutankhamun’s great-grandmother. Her burial mask is made from wood and is richly decorated with inlaid glass and thin coats of gold. The youthful facial features, including the almond-shaped obsidian and calcite eyes, thin nose, and wide mouth, were shaped in the likeness of the face underneath.
Funerary masks provided extra protection for the vital parts of the body, the face, and the heart, in preparation for the journey to the Afterlife. The heart, the only organ that remained in the body, was believed by Egyptians to be the seat of intelligence and was the link between the old life and the new.
Funerary Mask of Tjuya
Wood, gesso, gold, glass, obsidian
Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III (1390 – 1353 B.C.)
Valley of the Kings, tomb of Yuya and Tjuya (no. 46), Egyptian Museum, Cairo