Cylindrical bag of sawdust from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache
Description
New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun, ca. 1336–1327 B.C. Linen, decomposed wood material (sawdust). folded into two parallel rolls: L. 39.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); W. 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); H. 3.7 cm (1 7/16 in.) as one long tube: ca. L. 75 cm (29 1/2 in.); W. 4.5 cm (1 3/4 in.); H. 3.7 cm (1 7/16 in.). From: Embalming Cache of Tutankhamun (KV 54), Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Davis/Ayrton excavations, 1907–08. Credit: Gift of Joseph Veach Noble, 1988.
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A long, cylindrical/rolled bundle appears made of a light-colored fibrous wrapping, with damaged edges and cracks along the surface.
The object is photographed against a neutral background and shows a narrow, cylindrical bundle that is horizontally oriented. The outer surface looks like aged, off-white fabric or fiber wrapping (linen-like) that has split and flaked in places, with visible seams or layered folds near the ends. The center area is relatively smooth but shows cracking and loss consistent with decomposition and handling. No legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other markings are visible on the surface in this image; no clearly identifiable painted or inscribed decoration is present. The inner sawdust material is not directly visible, but the catalogued function and degraded fabric are consistent with a stuffed embalming-cache bag; however, the image alone does not let us confirm wood/sawdust content.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116256239 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 1988.437.1 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 550821 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.