Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin

Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1323 B.C.E. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones.

• Tutankhamun was only the age of nine when he became king of Egypt during the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom (c. 1332–1323 B.C.E.)
• His nearly intact tomb held a wealth of objects that give us unique insights into this period of ancient Egyptian history.
• Tutankhamun ruled after the Amarna age, when the pharaoh Akhenaten, Tutankhamun’s probable father, turned the religious attention of the kingdom to the worship of the god Aten, the sun disc. 
• Tutankhamen shifted the focus of the country’s worship back to the god Amun and returned the religious center back to Thebes.
•  Akhenaten moved his capital city to the site of Akhetaten (also known as Amarna), in Middle Egypt
• The outer two coffins were crafted in wood and covered in gold along with many semiprecious stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The inner coffin, however, was made of solid gold.
• The image of the pharaoh is that of a god. The gods were thought to have skin of gold, bones of silver, and hair of lapis lazuli—so the king is shown here in his divine form in the afterlife. He holds the crook and flail, symbols of the king’s right to rule.
• The death mask (above) is considered one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art. It originally rested directly on the shoulders of the mummy inside the innermost gold coffin. It is constructed of two sheets of gold 
• He also wears a false beard that further connects him to the image of a god as with the inner coffin. He wears a broad collar, which ends in terminals shaped as falcon heads. 
• The back of the mask is covered with Spell 151b from the Book of the Dead, which the Egyptians used as a road map for the afterlife.  This particular spell protects the various limbs of Tutankhamun as he moves into the underworld.