Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of
Discovery (Photographs by Harry Burton)
A Special Exhibition Catalogue Review by Stan Parchin
Allen, Susan J. Tutankhamun's Tomb: The
Thrill of Discovery (Photographs by Harry Burton).
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.
ISBN No. 0300120265
Hardcover, $24.95 (US)
After a lengthy seven-year quest, British archaeologist Howard Carter (1873-1939) uncovered the first of 16 rock-cut steps that led to the tomb of ancient Egypt's boy-king Tutankhamun (Dynasty 18, ruled ca. 1336-1327 B.C.) on November 4, 1922. Twenty days later, Carter breached the burial site's entrance, having anticipated the historical significance of his monumental discovery. Coincidentally, members of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Theban Expedition were excavating in the region. The scholar recognized his need for a skilled photographer to record the 5398 separate finds that awaited him. Seeking expert assistance, Carter sent an urgent cable from Cairo to New York's Albert M. Lythgoe (1868-1934), The Met's first Curator of Egyptian Art. Trained in Florence, Italy, Harry Burton (1879-1940), a master of photographic light, and three of his colleagues were dispatched immediately to the site in Egypt's funerary Valley of the Kings. His arrival soon began a decade-long collaboration with Carter. Together they documented the excavation and contents of the young pharaoh's tomb.
More than 70 mostly black-and-white vintage photographs, produced from some of Burton's well-preserved 1400 glass-plate negatives and accompanied by rare film footage, comprise Discovering Tutankhamun: The Photographs of Harry Burton in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's second-floor Howard Gilman Gallery. The special exhibition's companion publication, Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery (The Photographs of Harry Burton), reproduces and describes many of Mr. Burton's iconic images currently on display, telling works of art in their own right. The 104-page hardcover volume with jacket, modestly priced, is a systematic journey through Tutankhamun's four-room tomb as seen through Burton's keen eyes, a visual feast of 157 duotone photographs especially pleasing to devotees of ancient Egyptian art and civilization. Susan J. Allen, Senior Research Associate at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, organized the exhibition and is the clothbound book's primary author. The text's easy-to-read introduction by James P. Allen, the new Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chair, Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asiatic Studies at Brown University, describes the importance of the tomb's discovery and excavation. An esteemed former curator at The Met, Dr. Allen continues to serve its Department of Egyptian Art in a consultative capacity.
Howard Carter encountered considerable clutter in the Antechamber or first room of Tutankhamun's tomb, suggesting that the pharaoh's burial was conducted hastily. Considering the Amarna Period's turbulent times of religious revolution and restoration in which the young ruler lived, the archaeologist's conclusion remains plausible to this day. Burton photographed the chaos evident in the space. One remarkable object to emerge from among the ritual couches, chariot pieces and numerous boxes piled together in that room was a Wood Half-length Bust of Tutankhamun. Carter thought that the painted and gilded torso, wearing a flat crown adorned with a sacred uraeus or serpent emblem but missing its arms and legs, was a mannequin upon which Tutankhamun's tailors fitted his royal clothing. It's more likely that this very realistic portrait of the monarch served some obscure funereal role.
Harry Burton (British, 1879-1940)
Wood Half-length Bust of Tutankhamun
Gelatin silver print
9 x 6 3/8 in. (22.8 x 16.3 cm)
Archives of the Department of Egyptian Art
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
It took Howard Carter six weeks to empty the Antechamber of its contents carefully. When completed, only two works remained, a pair of standing guardian figures that flanked the wall with its concealed entrance to Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber. Once the mud plaster-filled doorway was penetrated, Carter decided to remove the wooden statues from the tomb. One of Harry Burton's most brilliant documentary photographs shows Carter, his friend Arthur R. ("Pecky") Callender (d. 1936) (a retired engineer and architect) and a workman preparing one of the two life-size figures for transport to the nearby tomb of Pharaoh Seti II (ruled ca. 1200-1194 B.C.); a field laboratory for conservation was established in the New Kingdom ruler's nearby tomb.
The statue being wrapped in cloth portrays Tutankhamun wearing the nemes or official royal head cloth. The work to the left of the Burial Chamber's entrance, wearing an afnet (kerchief headdress) or bag wig, represents the king's ka (soul or spiritual double after death). Other than the noted subtle differences in attire and separate religious inscriptions, both sculptures clutching a staff and mace are nearly identical. The exposed portions of their skin are covered in a thick black resin symbolizing regeneration, a concept associated with the mummiform god Osiris. Each statue's simulated clothing and jewelry are gold gilded. Their sandals and uraeuses are made of gilded bronze, the same material prominently outlining the figures' limestone and obsidian eyes.
Harry Burton (British, 1879-1940)
Carter Wrapping a Guardian
Statue for Removal from the Tomb
Gelatin silver print
6 7/8 x 9 3/16 in. (17.6 x 23.4 cm)
Archives of the Department of Egyptian Art
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Arthur Callender's engineering expertise helped Howard Carter disassemble the outermost gilded wooden shrine of four within Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber. Its lid having been removed, Carter was confronted by a series of three more decorated shrines. Many months after the archaeologist transferred all four embellished enclosures to the field laboratory, he finally laid eyes upon the first of Tutankhamun's three sarcophagi or coffins within a stone one. Harry Burton made sure to capture photographically the pharaoh's serene visage, a wooden likeness of the king's face covered with gesso (a plasterlike preparation for gilding or painting) and glistening gold foil. His Face of the Outermost Coffin of Tutankhamun (Spring 1926) is an intimate and up-close portrait of the pharaoh in repose. The vulture and uraeus on the boy-king's brow, together representing the king's dominion over Upper and Lower Egypt respectively, are surrounded by an intact miniature wreath of olive leaves and flowers.
Harry Burton (British, 1879-1940)
Face of the Outermost Coffin of
Tutankhamun
Spring 1926
Gelatin silver print
8 3/4 x 6 5/8 in. (22.3 x 17 cm)
Archives of the Department of Egyptian Art
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Much awaited the famed Carter and his team in the months and years ahead: the opening of Tutankhamun's two remaining coffins, the innermost one made of solid gold; the discovery of the pharaoh's mummy with its famous gold mask; and the excavation of the tomb's Treasury and Annex. Burton captured the hardworking eminent archaeologist in a remarkable photograph titled Carter Examining the Innermost Gold Coffin (October 1925). This horizontal print shows along a diagonal the seated Carter accompanied by an attentive kneeling assistant. Carter uses a surgical instrument to reveal a small section of the pharaoh's third coffin, its gold exterior covered in a dark and hardened aromatic resin.
Harry Burton (British, 1879-1940)
Carter Examining the Innermost
Gold Coffin
October 1925
Gelatin silver print
6 5/8 x 8 7/8 in. (17 x 22.5 cm)
Archives of the Department of Egyptian Art
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Susan J. Allen's richly illustrated narrative in Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery (The Photographs of Harry Burton) is followed by her tour-de-force 11-page presentation of the exhibition's images, complete with succinct individual descriptions. The book lacks a glossary and index. But it includes a well-researched list of publications for suggested reading. For those fascinated by the art and archaeology of Tutankhamun's tomb and its contents, this fact-filled slender volume is a true treasure.
View three additional images from the special exhibition and its catalogue.
For further reading:
Edwards, I.E.S. Tutankhamun: His Tombs and
Its Treasures. New York: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1976.
James, T.G.H. Tutankhamun.
New York: Metro Books, 2002.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wonderful
Things: The Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.
Reeves, Nicholas. The Complete Tutankhamun:
The King, The Tomb, The Royal Treasure.
New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
"Discovering Tutankhamun: The Photographs of Harry Burton" is on view from December 19, 2006 through April 29, 2007 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82 Street, New York, NY 10028-0198 (Telephone: 212-535-7710; Website). The museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM and Friday and Saturday from 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM. SUGGESTED admission is $20.00 for adults, $15.00 for senior citizens (65 and older) and $10.00 for students with valid school identification. This includes same-day admission to The Cloisters in Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park. Paid parking is available in The Museum Garage.
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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a specialist in ancient, late-medieval and Renaissance art and history, and a regular contributor to About Art History. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.
