Tutankhamun

The boy-king of Egypt from 1361 to 1352 BC whose tomb, discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, preserved some of the greatest treasures of the Egyptian goldsmiths’ craft. The king’s body was encased in a coffin of solid gold sheet two millimetres thick, weighing over 90 kilograms (2,893 oz). The head of the mummy was shrouded in a great mask of beaten gold. The golden throne nearby was adorned with delicately worked scenes showing the young king being anointed by his queen.

The treasure of Tutankhamun is normally on display in the Cairo Museum but has drawn crowds of several million when exhibited in Europe and America. It is a symbol of the magnificence achieved in gold from ancient time.