Rampant Tut-mania in New York

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," now on view in Manhattan until Jan. 2, 2011, has unleashed rampant Tut-mania in New York, just like it did at the exhibition’s previous seven stops. This is last venue for this touring blockbuster. A selection of about 50 pieces unearthed from the tomb of King Tut (ca. 1343 BC-1333 BC) is being shown with about 80 more items from the 18th Dynasty in Egypt.

Among the most intriguing pieces from Tut’s tomb is a painted wooden torso of Tut. He may have been considered both a god and a human being, but the human dominates in this startlingly realistic bust, wearing a royal crown and linen shirt, but without arms. It projects a lively presence, but its purpose is one of the many mysteries still unanswered about Tut.

But the most impressive pieces are the many fine gold, personal items found with Tutankhamun’s mummy. The show’s grand finale consists of a replica of the mummy chamber with a handful of finely wrought, mostly gold objects -- a jeweled pectoral, made of gold, silver, glass and semiprecious stones, a gold diadem, and a gold knife and sheath too delicate for this world but perfect for use in a royal afterlife among others.

This is the second Tut exhibition to tour the U.S. and very different from the earlier 1976-79 King Tut tour. Only a handful of pieces are the same, so fans of that show at the Metropolitan Museum will want to visit the Discovery Center to see the new material. This show also contains some of the latest scientific research on Tut. It’s explained along with a replica of Tut’s mummy at the very end of the exhibition.

The King Tut shows are more than simple cultural exchanges, of course; they’re designed for fundraising as well, and this tour should help pay for a new museum to house antiquities in Cairo. Admission is $27.50 for adults.

In publicity for the show, there is a golden statue of King Tut that looks like the gilded funerary mask of King Tut’s mummy, which appeared in the last exhibition. The golden mask won’t leave Cairo again by order of the Egyptian government. What you are actually seeing is a much smaller, but also exquisite piece, one of four miniature coffins for the viscera of Tut. The Egyptians embalmed the body, placing the heart back into it, but putting the stomach, intestines, and lungs and, in this case, the liver in separate containers.

Tut’s liver caffeinate is made of gold, with inlays of colored glass and carnelian, and obsidian and rock crystal for his eyes. He holds a flail, symbol of royal power, and a crook, symbol of the king as shepherd of his people. It measures only about ten inches high, yet it exudes power.

One of the favorite pieces isn’t made of gold. It’s a carved-calcite cylindrical cosmetic jar with a recumbent lion, representing the king, on the lid. Instead of feet, the jar rests on four heads of traditional enemies of Egypt, two Nubians of carved black stone, and two western Asians carved in red stone. The exterior walls of the vessel are incised and painted blue. They show a lion attacking a bovine with the help of dogs.

For Tut enthusiasts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting a show of finds from the embalming site of Tut, "Tutankhamun’s Funeral," through Sept. 2, 2010. The small show has more artifacts than art but the importance of floral collars and the beads they incorporated are worth a look.

Reference: an article written by N.F. Karlins