The Lotus chalice or Alabaster chalice, called the Wishing Cup by Howard Carter, derives from the

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

of the Ancient Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

of the 18th Dynasty. The object received the find number 014 and is now on display in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, with the inventory numbers JE 67465 and GEM 36.

Discovery

The tomb of the young king (

KV62 The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb ...

) was uncovered almost untouched in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

in West Thebes by Howard Carter on 4 November 1922. The lotus chalice was one of the first objects which Carter and his excavators found on entering the tomb; the vessel was on the floor immediately inside the antechamber. This was not its original position.

Material and significance

The lotus chalice is carved from a single piece of

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

. The chalice takes the shape of a white lotus in full bloom, identified by its rounded petals. The supports for the handles are shaped like blue lotus flowers which are flanked by buds growing upward, with the

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

Heh seated on a basket (the neb symbol) on the tips of the petals. In each hand Heh holds a palm rib with notches for counting the years; each palm rib rests on the back of a tadpole sitting on a

shen ring __NOTOC__ Shen may refer to: * Shen (Chinese religion) (神), a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, and traditional Chinese medicine; term for god or spirit * Shen (clam-monster) (蜃), a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mi ...

. At the upper end of each palm rib there is an

ankh Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene. This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphat ...

symbol, the sign of life. This is a typical depiction of the god of the "million years", the god of infinity and eternity: the palm rib is the

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

for year, while the tadpole represented 100,000 and the shen ring symbolised eternity. A kneeling image of the god was the hieroglyph for the number "one million". The same motif is found on other items from the tomb like the cedar chair (JE 62029, find number 87). The chalice therefore symbolises the infinite and eternal life of King Tutankhamun. The lotus is significant in

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyp ...

for the birth of the sun god, who emerged from the lotus, after it had risen out of the flood of the primeval waters of

Nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

. The name of the king in the centre of the white open flower therefore symbolised his rebirth. This iconography is seen more literally in the

Head of Nefertem The Head of Nefertem (also known as the Head from the Lotus Bloom or Tutankhamun as the Sun God) was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings in West Thebes. It depicts the King ( Pharaoh) as a child and dates from the ...

which depicts Tutankhamun emerging from a blue lotus as the newly risen sun god.

Inscriptions

The inscriptions are engraved and filled with blue pigment. Howard Carter copied the inscriptions and asked

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

to provide a translation, since he required this for publication. The main lotus, which forms the actual cup, had the king's prenomen or throne name 'Nebkheperure' and his nomen or personal name 'Tutankhamun' inscribed on it with the epithet 'beloved of

Amun-Re Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

, lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands and lord of heaven, given life for ever.' The writing runs from right to left. The inscription on the rim of the chalice is to be read in two directions. From left to right, beginning with the central

is the full five-fold titulary of Tutankhamun: : May (he) live, the Horus Mighty Bull, beautiful of birth, the Two Ladies Goodly of Laws, who pacifies the Two Lands, the Horus of Gold Exalted of Crowns, who placates the gods, King of Upper and Lower Egypt and the Lord of the Two Lands Nebkheperure, given life. From right to left, beginning again with the

symbol, is the following: : May your '' ka'' live, may you spend millions of years, you, who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness.Nicholas Reeves, John H. Taylor: ''Howard Carter before Tutankhamun.'' British Museum Press; London 1992, , p. 188; T. G. H. James: ''Tutanchamun. Der ewige Glanz des jungen Pharaos.'' Köln 2000, p. 311. Because of the inscription, Howard Carter called the lotus chalice the ''King's Wishing Cup''. The wish inscription from the lotus chalice is quoted on the second gravestone of Howard Carter.

Display

In addition to being displayed in the

in Cairo, the lotus chalice was among the original finds selected for the first temporary exhibition of the

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

of Tutankhamun. It was also on display with exhibition number 39 in the world-touring '' Treasures of Tutankhamun'' exhibition.

Bibliography

* Jürgen Settgast. ''Alabaster-Kelch'' in Ausstellungskatalog ''Tutanchamun in Köln.'' von Zabern, Mainz 1980, , p. 138. *

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...

. ''King Tutankhamun. The Treasures Of The Tomb.'' Thames & Hudson, London 2007, , p. 27. *

T. G. H. James Thomas Garnet Henry James, (8 May 1923 – 16 December 2009), known as Harry James, was a British Egyptologist, epigrapher, and museum curator. He is best known for his career long association with the British Museum, serving with the Department ...

. ''Tutanchamun. Der ewige Glanz des jungen Pharaos.'' Müller, Köln 2000, , p. 311. * M. V. Seton-Williams: ''Tutanchamun. Der Pharao. Das Grab. Der Goldschatz.'' Ebeling, Luxembourg 1980, , pp. 188–189.

References

External links

* The

Griffith Institute The Griffith Institute is an Egyptological institution based in the Griffith Wing of the Sackler Library and is part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, England. It was founded for the advancement of Egyptology and Ancient N ...

, Oxford
''Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation. The Howard Carter Archives.'' „ Alabaster (calcite) cup or chalice “, Carter No. 014
{{Tutankhamun 14th-century BC works 1922 archaeological discoveries Alabaster Archaeological discoveries in Egypt Art of ancient Egypt Chalices Egyptian Museum Plants in art Tutankhamun