Perfect Imperfection – the Glass Headrests of Tutankhamun and Other Objects

Abstract

Among the finds from Tutankhamun’s tomb are several headrests made from a variety of materials including wood, ivory, faience, glass and iron. Here, we present a brief overview of the genre of headrests in general and the collection of such objects in Tutankhamun’s tomb. We present a summary of the likely post-excavation history of one of the two glass headrests before providing detailed visual observations on the two glass headrests, each weighing about 2 kg. The turquoise-coloured headrest consists of two parts, joined in the middle of the central stem or pillar. In many areas its glass is discoloured brown, possibly as a result of corrosion or devitrification. The dark blue transparent headrest is a single block of glass, showing just a few ancient repairs, presumably filling gas bubbles resulting from its manufacture. This observation then leads to a discussion of the likely production process employed to create these unique and spectacular artefacts. We consider it unlikely that they were carved from large solid blocks using lithic technology, or poured as liquid glass into a mould. Instead, we argue that they were cast in the sense of adding finely ground glass powder into a prepared form which was then heated to such a temperature to allow the complete fusion of the glass to consolidate in a nearly-finished shape, requiring only minimal surface finishing. Following this, we present pXRF analyses of the two headrests and a few smaller glass objects from the tomb, including two blue and one white vessel, and a dark blue statuette. The results indicate that the turquoise headrest is coloured with pure copper oxide and opacified with antimony, while the dark blue headrest and the two blue vessels are coloured with copper oxide derived from bronze. The statuette is made from cobalt-blue glass, while the white vessel is made from colourless glass opacified by countless gas bubbles trapped in the matrix of the glass. Within the inevitable analytical limitations and uncertainty of pXRF data, the glass compositions match what we know about glass from New Kingdom Egypt. The turquoise headrest differs from the other objects in its lower concentrations of some trace elements including tin, strontium and zirconium, which resemble compositions known from Mesopotamia, but also from glass from Lisht in Egypt.