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Tutankhamun and His Wife - Gilded Shrine

A decorated panel from a small golden shrine showing Tutankhamun pouring perfume oil onto the hand of his wife Ankhesenamun.

This shrine panel depicts Tutankhamun with his wife, offering rare visual evidence of their relationship.

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Line drawing of an ancient Egyptian scene: a seated king with a tall crown with a small uraeus, broad beaded collar, and a bracelet, extending his hand toward a seated woman with a tall feathered headdress and a sun disk, who raises her hand in return.
Tutankhamun pouring perfume oil onto the hand of his wife, gilded shrine (drawing by Celpunken).

About this source

What it is

This is a line drawing recording a scene from a small golden shrine found in Tutankhamun's tomb, showing the king pouring perfume oil onto the hand of his wife, Queen Ankhesenamun.

Why it matters

The shrine's intimate scenes are among the main visual evidence historians have for the relationship between Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. Such images show how Egyptian art depicted royal couples and hint at the personal side of a pharaoh's life, alongside his public role.

Look closer

  • What gestures and objects in the scene suggest affection or closeness between the king and queen?
  • Why might the artists who made the shrine have chosen to show such a private moment?
  • What does this image not tell us about the real relationship between Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun?

This artifact 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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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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