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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives
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Carter No.: 403a

Handlist description: Head-rest

Card/Transcription No.: 403a-3


Headrest: object 403.A                       

Extract from a letter, 2.xi.51, to Mr. D. B. Harden from Prof. W. E. S. Turner, former head of the Institute of Glass Technology at Sheffield, concerning the glass headrest, of which Mr. Harden sent him a photograph.

"... I wrote to the Cairo Museum and after a delay of several months received from the Chief Keeper a letter in October 1949 giving me the following information in reply to my series of questions [on the headrest]: (1) The object is certainly of glass as proved by: (a) the facture of a break found in its stand, (b) the presence of some air-bubbles which are one of the most characteristic features of the ancient glass. (2) It is made up of two pieces: the upper part and the stand. (3) In between these two pieces there is a piece of wood on which the band of embossed gold is fixed. These three pieces are joined together by means of an adhesive and a wooden peg passing through hollows inside each of them, as shown in the sketch on which several dimensions are also mentioned. [Sketch here mentioned presumably still in Prof. Turner's possession.] (4) Signs of ancient polishing are clearly visible on many parts of its surface. Some other areas of the surface, however, do not show any signs of polishing. From this, it may be concluded that the two pieces of the headrest had been at first roughly shaped by moulding and then they were thoroughly fashioned and smoothed by polishing. From this, it may be concluded that the two pieces

Card no. 403a-3 relating to Carter no. 403a
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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
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