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Primary sourceSculpturec. 1320 BCE

Statues of Maya and Merit

c. 1320 BCE

A pair statue of Maya, Tutankhamun's treasurer who helped oversee his burial, and his wife Merit, now in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

Maya, shown here, was the official who helped bury Tutankhamun and later restored his tomb, linking this statue to the pharaoh's afterlife story.

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Limestone statue of a seated man and woman side by side on a shared block throne. The woman on the left wears a long wig and clings close to the man, who wears a short wig and a pleated kilt. Both have bare feet and stare forward against a dark background.
Statue of Maya and his wife Merit, c. 1320 BCE. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

About this source

What it is

This limestone statue, made around 1320 BCE, shows the official Maya and his wife Merit seated together on a shared throne. It has been on display at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden since 1823.

Why it matters

Maya was a treasurer who helped supervise Tutankhamun's burial and later restored the king's tomb after it was robbed. This statue shows the powerful officials who managed the pharaoh's government and funeral, revealing how royal power depended on a network of trusted administrators.

Look closer

  • What does the pose of the couple, close together on one throne, suggest about how they wanted to be remembered?
  • Why might an official like Maya be honoured with his own statue rather than only appearing in texts?
  • What does this statue not tell us about Maya's actual work overseeing Tutankhamun's burial?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tutankhamun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photograph of the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun against a black background. The mask shows a stylized face with inlaid blue eyes and eyebrows, a striped blue and gold headdress, a vulture and cobra emblem on the brow, a blue false beard, and a collar of colored inlays.Artifact

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Mask of Tutankhamun

c. 1333 BCE

Black and white photograph of a wooden figure wearing a striped royal headdress with a uraeus cobra, crossed arms holding ceremonial objects, and hieroglyphic inscriptions in columns on the lower body.Photograph

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Photograph of Tutankhamun's Shawabti Figure

Harry Burton · 1920s

Interior wall of an Egyptian tomb painted gold, with rows of painted baboon figures and hieroglyphs in boxed panels, a boat scene at top left, and a painted standing figure of a pharaoh at right. A glass display case is visible at the bottom.Artifact

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Tomb of Tutankhamun

14th century BCE

Black and white photograph of two men inside a tomb opening the carved, hieroglyph-covered gilded doors of a shrine. One man in a light cap kneels and reaches toward the doors, while another man in a jacket leans over from the right. Carved relief figures and inscriptions cover the panels.Photograph

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Opening the Doors of the Fourth Shrine in Tutankhamun's Tomb

Harry Burton · 1920s

Photo of the Restoration Stela, a tall round-topped reddish stone stele in a museum with carved relief figures at the top and rows of hieroglyphic text below, with a diagonal crack running through it.Document

Primary source

Restoration Stela

Tutankhamun · c. 1326 BCE

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