Tutankhamen upon a panther

<!--<!--This collection of hardwood figures buried with Tutankhamen about 35 statues in total were found divided between the antechamber, burial chamber and the treasury. Seven of them represented the king himself while the rest included a strange group of divinities or maybe representing the king himself in the form of those divinities maybe to acquire their blessings. These statues were mostly gilded or black in colors; both colors are associated with regeneration and rebirth. They were wrapped in linen shawls with the manufacture date of the 3rd year of Akhenaton’s reign.

The greater number was recovered from the treasury, where they had been crammed into 22 double door shrines of black resin coated wood mounted on sleds and with sloping roofs. The doors of only one of those shrines had been opened by tomb robbers while the seals of the remainder had survived untouched since the king’s funeral.

This statue was found together with its pair covered with linen shawls in one black shrine in the treasury. Here we can see the king represented standing upon a panther. We don’t know exactly the purpose of this representation. There are some theories about this unusual position:

<!--Maybe to prove his power and strength being in control of a panther

<!--Maybe by standing on a panther he is confirming his authority on foreign lands; in this case the animal would represent the enemy

<!--Maybe this position is connected with a funerary concept dealing with triumph over the dangers of the Netherworld so it is probably because the panther would help him in his journey in the after life because according to an archaic belief the panther represented the night sky which symbolizes the underworld while the king is assimilated to the sun by the golden tan of his skin, thus proving his triumph over death and conquering the underworld.

<!--Similar panther statues were found in other royal tombs e.g. Amenhotep II, Thotmosis IV and Hormeheb but the statues discovered were not connected to the figure of the king; they only had mortises at the back which could be later connected to the king’s figure. Also there is a depiction on a wall in the tomb of Seti II in the same position but the king is standing upon a lion not a panther so we knew that this representation had some kind of a funerary context although its nature is completely obscure.

Description:

The statue is made out of gilded wood representing the king in the traditional royal attitude with his left leg stepping forward. He is wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt with the uraeus upon his forehead for protection. He is wearing a wide collar and the royal kilt. He is holding in his right hand the flail and a long staff in the other hand both these objects are made of gilded bronze. The uraeus upon his forehead and the sandals are made out of bronze. The eyes and eyebrows are inlaid with glass. The king is represented standing upon a panther which is probably a sign of power and his wish to overcome the problems to be faced in the afterlife. The panther’s body is made out of wood covered with black risen except for the facial markings and interior of ears which are gilded. The name of the king is painted in yellow on his pedestal.