# “The Restoration of King Tut’s Statue of Amun” and “King Tut’s Activity at Karnak”,

Luc Gabolde

► To cite this version:

Luc Gabolde. “The Restoration of King Tut’s Statue of Amun” and “King Tut’s Activity at Karnak”, Theban Archaeology Meeting 2022, Dec 2022, Luxor, Egypt. . hal-04001123

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Submitted on 22 Feb 2023

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# The Restoration of King Tut's Statue of Amun

## تر ميم تمثال آمون من عصر الملك توت عنخ آمون

The Tutankhamun's quartzite statue of Amun (usurped by Haremhab) was discovered broken in its present place in 1897 by G. Legrain. It had been brought there in Antiquity (before Amenmes/Sethy II) from the Akhmenu where it originally stood (together with its partner, the statue of Amunet made by king A'y).

In 1912, Legrain managed to put together the sparse fragments of the head and bust, of the loincloth and of the legs, though many parts were still missing. He replaced the bust with a steel-reinforced concrete torso substitute and the missing left leg with a very schematic beam. A fragment of the nose was recovered in 2003 and replaced in 2007.

تم اكتشاف تمثال الكوارتزيت لآمون والذي يرجع لعصر توت عنخ آمون (الذي وضع حور محب اسمه عليه بعد ذلك) مهشماً في مكانه الحالي في عام ١٨٩٧ بواسطة Legrain. ورها تم إحضاره إلى موقعه الحالي في العصور القديمة (بواسطة آمون مس / سيتي الثاني) من الآخ منو حيث كانت موجوداً في الأصل (جنايا إلى جنب مع تمثال شريكته آمونت والذي أمر بنحته الملك آي)

في عام تمكَن Legrain من تجميع الأجزاء المتناثرة من الرأس والصدر، والمئزر والساقين، وعلى الرغم من أن العديد من الأجزاء لا تزال مفقودة. فقام بعمل جذع خرساني مقوى بالفولاذ وأسببدل الساق اليسرى المفقودة بواحدة لم تتناسق مع الشكل العام. تم العثور على جزء من الأنف في عام ٢٠٠٣ وتم لصقه في موضعه في عام ٢٠٠٧.

Luc GABOLDE (CFEETK, UAR 3172-CNRS)

In 2019, the SCA-MoTA has charged the CFEETK to schedule and realize the long expected **new restoration of the statue**. With the support of the **Kheops Funds for Archaeology** and the **Gandur Fundation for Art**, the operation was soon implemented and conducted over few years with an **innovative approach**.

First, a close examination of the profile of the statue and of the text had shown that the length of the lacuna had been **overestimated of around 28 cm** when compared to the proportions of similar contemporaneous statues of the god.

Thus, the restoration of the statue consisted in a **replica of the bust and of the left leg**, adjusted on the proportions of the statue Cairo JE 38049, and hewn out an **indurated sandstone very close to the original stone**.

<caption>2a. Text of the back pillar showing the too long gap (≈ 28 cm) between the two preserved parts of the text</caption>

<caption>2b. The state of the statue before restoration with its elongated right leg and schematic left prothesis</caption>

<caption>2c. Cairo JE 38049 from the cachette of Karnak used as model for proportions</caption>

<caption>2d. The statue after restoration</caption>

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>1. Detail of the head and torso of Amun after restoration.</figcaption></figure>

3.

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>3. Fragment of the nose recovered in 2003.</figcaption></figure>

30 cm to suppress as impossible to fill with a text

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>

2.

a.

b.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /></figure>

c.

d.
The background of the statue has also been embellished and highlighted by **repla-cing the recovered fragments of the Annals of Thutmose III** which had been drawn in situ by Lepsius but had collapsed between 1864 and 1867. The right part of the granite lintel, reused as millstone, was recovered in modern times in the village of Dendara and brought back to its original position. The northern side of this wall, with **scenes of Taharqa** and an **inscription of Osorkon I**, was on this occasion op-portunely reassembled.

Finally, the **statue of Goddess Amunet**, consort of Amun, realized by king Ayü was also restored and stren-gthened (5).

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>5.</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>6.</figcaption></figure>

<caption>5. Statue of Amunet before restauration.</caption>

<caption>6. Statue of Amunet after restauration.</caption>

Project with the
support of :

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /></figure>

FONDS
POUR
KHÉOPS
L'ARCHÉOLOGIE

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /></figure>

FONDATION
GANDUR
POUR L'ART

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /></figure>

Amon-Rê

InscriptionsFootnote: Fronterie des Snctionniers a l'arole et la Préservation des Tommes de Karnak

AFSEPTK

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /><figcaption>4.</figcaption></figure>

<caption>4. View of the statues and the area from G. Legrain fund (between 1897 and 1912).</caption>

<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>7.</figcaption></figure>

King Tut's activity at Karnak

After the Amarnian theologic “revolution”, the king **(Merytaten and then Tutankhamun)**, the court and the administration abandoned Tell el-Amarna and **moved back to Thebes and Memphis**. The monotheistic cult of Aton was also discarded and the country **returned the traditional cults**, and, at Karnak specifically, to that of **Amun-Ra**.

The iconoclasty of Akhenaten had caused tremendous damages in the partly abandonned temple of Amun and a **huge programme of restoration was undertaken by Tutankhamun**. The two statues of Amun and Amunet belonged most probably to this renovation project.

A great dedicatory stele, found in the great hypostyle hall (KIU 3450) and now in the Cairo Museum (CGC CG 34183), usurped by Haremhab, has recorded **the deeds of the king in order to restore what had been damaged**. The king also **enhanced his cultic involvement** in the flood arrival and in the flou-rishing harvests by dedicating a great representation of the **goddess Renenutet and the god Hâpy** in front of the sacred lake, with scenes involving **Amun, Mut and Khonsu**, and a **niche for a statue apparently dedicated to Amun with Amunet** recently reconstructed by the CFEETK (G. Dembitz) (8).

Other monuments of the king extremely fragmentary : **fragments of cornices** and from gates where the **mentor of the boy-king**, the **divine father Ayü**, was almost always accompanying him ; a sphinx of indurated limestone in the first court of the temple. The last monument mentioning the king at Karnak is posthumous : a **memorial temple erected by king Ayü** in order to honours the memory of his predecessor which study by Marc Gabolde at the CFEETK is almost finished.

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /><figcaption>8.</figcaption></figure>

TAM

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /></figure>

C F E E T K

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_17.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_19.png" /></figure>

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RÉPUBLIQUE
FRANÇAISE

Liberté
Egalité
Fraternité

INSTITUT
FRANÇAIS

Égypte

<figure><img src="image_21.png" /></figure>