Wooden Model of Tutankhamun

Placed in a small coffin, like a shawabty, this wooden model portrays the shrouded mummy of Tutankhamun on a lion-sided funerary bed. A human headed bird (Ba) and a falcon, each with a wing protectively covering the king's abdomen, represent the two forms in which the king might return to his body after death. The model was a funerary gift from Maya, an official who may have saved Tutankhamun's tomb after its early violation by robbers.