Probably the most famous artefact in the world, the 11 kg death mask of pharaoh Tutankhamun was restored in 2015. The work is more than just the careful repair of a 3300-year-old death mask.
In August 2014, cleaning staff in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo mishandled. They accidentally knocked off the beard of Tutankhamun’s death mask. In no time at all, they glued the separated beard back on with an insoluble epoxy resin ( also known as superglue ). This was not a good idea, as it later turned out: “ They didn’t reattach the beard in its original position, the beard tilted slightly to the left side,” explains Christian Eckmann.
The German is a recognized restorer from the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, an archaeological research institute in Mainz. He was commissioned by the Cairo Museum to restore the death mask. It was feared that the valuable artefact had been irreparably damaged with the dilettante glue. Eckmann calmed the minds and said that the damage could be repaired. “ The beard was not only damaged during the work, but it was already damaged when Howard Carter found the mask,” Eckmann says. “
After the excavation, when the mask was brought to the museum, they had not reattached the beard to the mask - until 1946.” Nicholas Reeves then claims that Tutankhamun’s grave mask and many other treasures of the tomb were originally made for the queen and only later manipulated, namely when the king died unexpectedly young. Since 2001, research has suggested that it may originally have been intended for Queen Neferneferuaten; her royal name ( Ankhkheperure ) was found in a partly erased cartouche on the inside of the mask. Anyway, the mask originally consisted of two parts. Matchings with the faces of Nefertiti and Tutankhamun speak clearly for an adaptation of the mask for Nefertiti! The Egyptologist Chris Naughton, Director for The Egypt Exploration Society, tries to clarify the situation.
The mask is 54 cm ( 21 in ) tall, 39.3 cm ( 15.5 in ) wide and 49 cm ( 19 in ) deep. It is fashioned from two layers of high-karat gold, varying from 1.5–3 mm ( 0.059–0.118 in ) in thickness, and weighing 10.23 kg ( 22.6 lb ).
