Tutankhamun, before his beard was tickled. STUPID. The restoration of Tutankhamun's funerary mask and its inelegant traces of glue has finally begun. It should last two months, according to Christian Eckmann, the expert in charge of the project... Did you miss the start? One of the most precious treasures of ancient Egypt, and undoubtedly one of the best known in the world, was the victim in January 2015 of an accident as stupid as it was irreparable. During a banal dusting operation of the famous mask of Tutankhamun, the illustrious pharaoh of the New Kingdom (18th dynasty), his blue and gold fake beard would have… come off! And it would have remained in the hands of the employee(s) of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo where this marvel, discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, is on display. Panicked, this one (or these) would have, in all haste, used epoxy glue to weld it back to the face. However, the repair is completely failed... and the adhesive irreversible. In the photos of the mask taken recently, we can see very clearly the layer of gel used to glue the pieces back together. The mask would also have been slightly scratched during an attempt to remove a flow of glue using a spatula.
The restoration procedure was not followed, to say the least!
This accident, which allegedly happened last October, was revealed very recently and relayed by the Al Araby Al Jadeed website on January 22, 2015, taken up by the Associated Press and the British press, in particular the BBC (see also, in close-up, at this address). A journalist was able to immediately go there and see the damage. This damage was later confirmed by the director of the Egyptian Museum, Mahmoud Al Hawagi. For fear of reprisals, the Egyptian conservatives speak on condition of anonymity and it is therefore difficult to know for the moment what really happened. One thing is certain, the restoration procedure was not followed, to say the least! After the accident, the mask should indeed have been transported to the museum's conservation laboratory, to receive appropriate treatment. An internal investigation is ongoing.
The beard, a royal attribute
In ancient Egypt, the false beard was one of the royal attributes of the pharaoh and the deities. This was worn on the chin, attached to the ears by a thread. A symbol of power such that Queen Hatshepsut, who became pharaoh, had herself represented wearing this artificial beard.
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