AR / ITEM / 00100166
The Golden Burial Mask of Tutankhamun
Ancient Egyptian · maker unknown
Tutankhamun's solid-gold funerary mask, placed over the king's head and shoulders and decorated with glass, lapis lazuli, obsidian, carnelian, faience and quartzite.
- Date
- New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty (c. 1323 BCE)
- Collection
- Grand Egyptian Museum
- Reference
- 8
Provenance and history
The mask was found placed over the head and shoulders of Tutankhamun's mummy, showing the king as Osiris and as the sun god Re, with a body of gold and hair of lapis lazuli; an inscription on the back protects each part of the face. Howard Carter's excavation found it on 28 October 1925 (Carter no. 256a) in the tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. It was displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for nearly a century, where in 2014 the beard came away and was hastily reattached with epoxy before a German-Egyptian team repaired it. In 2025 it moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza, which was inaugurated on 1 November 2025.
c. 1925–2025
Displayed at the Egyptian Museum, CairoA
Registered as JE 60672 and shown in Tahrir Square for nearly a century.
28 October 1925
Found on Tutankhamun's mummy in his tombB
Recorded by Howard Carter's excavation as object 256a.
2014–2015
Beard reattached after damageB
The beard came away in 2014 and was hastily reattached with epoxy; a German-Egyptian team then repaired the mask.
2025
Moved to the Grand Egyptian MuseumB
The museum at Giza was inaugurated on 1 November 2025.
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18
CreatedD
In the Tapestry
- Worn by
- TutankhamunD
- Depicts
- TutankhamunD
- Associated with · 1925
- Howard CarterC
- Associated with
- Discovery of the tomb of TutankhamunB
- Discovered at · 28 October 1925
- Tomb of TutankhamunB
- Culture of origin
- Ancient EgyptD
- Culture of origin
- Egyptian EmpireD
- Exhibited at · c. 1925–2025
- Egyptian MuseumA
- Exhibited at · 2025–present
- Grand Egyptian MuseumD
Record
- Culture
- Ancient Egyptian
- Period
- New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty
- Medium
- Gold; glass; lapis lazuli; obsidian; carnelian; faience; quartzite
- Dimensions
- 54 × 39.3 × 49 cm; 10.23 kg
- Origin
- Egypt
Sources
- A
France 24, 'King Tut gold mask to leave Cairo museum after nearly 100 years' (12 June 2025)
↗ View original record - B
Wikipedia, 'Mask of Tutankhamun'
↗ View original record - C
Griffith Institute, Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation, Carter no. 256a
↗ View original record - D
Grand Egyptian Museum, 'The Golden Burial Mask of Tutankhamun' (GEM 8)
↗ View original record