KV 63: the glass inlay decoration on Iny`s coffin

EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
KV 63: the glass inlay
decoration on Iny’s coffin
KV 63 was the first tomb to be found in the Valley of the Kings since that of Tutankhamun and
since 2006 the coffins found within it have been the subject of intensive study. Otto J Schaden and
Earl L Ertman describe the glass decoration on the coffin of the Royal Nurse, Iny.
Since 1992 the Amenmesse Project expedition had been
clearing KV 10, the king’s tomb in the Valley of the
Kings. In 2006, as we dug deeper into the rectangular
shaft to the north and east of the entrance, and beneath the
foundations of workmen’s huts, a thin opening appeared
across the south face of the shaft. This turned out to be
the top of the drywall blocking just above the entrance
doorway of a previously unknown tomb, now numbered
as KV 63. Many large whitewashed storage jars stood on
the right side of the tomb’s single chamber and a jumbled
assortment of black coffins on the left. In all, KV 63
contained eight coffins (including two miniatures), but
no mummies, and, rather than housing a burial, it was
used to store embalming goods, including many vessels
and almost 460 kilos of natron. From the evidence of
ceramics and seal impressions it appears to have been in
use in the late Eighteenth Dynasty. One incomplete seal
impression can be restored only as the prenomen of King
Tutankhamun or King Ay, so the final closure of KV 63
was probably at that time.
Our primary mission since the discovery has been
to record and document everything in the chamber,
conserve the most fragile pieces (those not thoroughly
eaten by termites), and move everything up above ground
level to the secure location of KV 10’s pillared hall. There
a floor was built over the descent leading to the rear of
the tomb to have a sufficiently large work area in which
to be able to study, clean, document and conserve the
objects from KV 63.
The coffins found in the tomb are in various stages
of completion, some virtually undecorated, and only
two have revealed inscriptions thus far. The action of
termites has caused considerable damage to some of them,
including the loss of texts and decoration, making their
study and dating difficult.
Coffin A, found closest to the tomb entrance, had been
placed originally on loose rubble on the floor, but termite
damage led to its right side rupturing and tipping over,
spilling some of its contents. Black bitumen resin covered
all but the coffin’s face mask, painted yellow to imitate
gold. It has glass eye inlays outlined with dark blue glass
with extended cosmetic lines rather than merely painted
eye details. The eyebrows of coffin A were not inlaid
with glass but were made of a composite material that was
raised and painted. Coffins B, F and G also have yellow
face masks while C and E were completely covered with
black resin, the mask of D is seemingly made of pink
gold, covered by resin or varnish, but it has not yet been
cleaned/conserved.
Over several seasons conservators have worked many
hours cleaning, patching
and removing the black
bitumen from parts of the
coffins. We also checked
for inscriptions where these
would be expected on
coffins with black colouring
and intersecting bands of
text, as are known from the
reign of Amenhotep III and
into the reign of Amenhotep
IV (Akhenaten). Often
these bands of texts are
found down the centre
of the front of the coffin
intersecting with horizontal
cross bands. Coffin A had
four cross bands as shown
View into KV 63 prior to removal of the coffins and jars. Photograph: Heather Alexander
on the drawing (p.40) and
39
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
top cross band on the left
begins with ‘revered’ (as does
the far less well-preserved
bottom cross band). ‘...
revered, may I see Re [in the
sky and drink from the pool
…]’ In neither instance
is there any mention of
the traditional mortuary
deities. The absence of the
usual figure of Nut and her
customary recitations on
the end panels or elsewhere
on the lid or box leads us
to suggest that Iny’s coffin
inscription was made during
the Amarna Period as the
The face mask of Coffin A of the Royal Nurse, Iny, showing glass eye inlays and composition eyebrows.
usual ‘traditional’ funerary
Photograph: Mary Ann Marazzi
deities were not invoked.
Obviously
this
coffin
had
been
subjected to some rough
its owner can be identified as the Royal Nurse, Iny.
treatment before it came to rest in our single chamber
Most of the individual inlaid elements of the inscriptions
tomb where the action of the termites led to further
and designs on the lid and box of coffin A have
deterioration. However, the damage to the surface of this
disappeared and the cut depressions that once housed
coffin does not appear to have been done to obliterate
coloured inlaid hieroglyphs and decorations are mostly
the name of its owner, Iny, but rather to obtain the gold
empty; they would almost certainly have been filled with
leaf applied to the coffin’s surface - tiny scraps of gold foil
glass, paste or paint, or even Egyptian faience.
remained on the surface after removal of the resin.
Glass inlays in situ include some very thin light blue
We do not know if the coffin was used for Iny’s burial (at
glass rods and pieces of them on the right side of the box,
Thebes, Amarna, or elsewhere) before it was stripped of
marking borders to the texts. They had been inlaid into
its valuable decoration and chosen to serve as a repository
the incised borders, probably affixed with Egyptian blue
or similar paste adhesives. Neighbouring rods dropped out
of their original positions when the wood dried out and
warped or the surrounding wood was eaten by termites.
More glass rods were found among the debris in and near
the coffin, along with flakes of gold. A partial list of glass
elements besides the blue glass rods includes a broken
red glass ›hieroglyph, practically encircled by gold leaf,
on the left side of the box, in the third cross band, and a
complete turquoise-blue nb sign, on the left side of the
box, second column from the top just before the start of
Iny’s title, mnat nzwt (Royal Nurse). Small fragments of
turquoise glass, still in place, have also been noted, plus
the shattered left end of a red glass mn sign under the blue
nb sign discussed above.
Iny’s name and/or title are also preserved (completely
or in part) on three cross bands on the right side of
the box, and three on the left side. Similarly, it occurs
twice on the end panel of the lid and near the bottom
of the central column. One text, from the fourth cross
band, was preserved and legible from the twenty or so
pieces remaining of this coffin
(not counting the many tiny
fragments and pieces) that
were eaten by termites. The
Blue glass rod fragments used for text
borders. Photograph: Heather Alexander
The texts on Coffin A. Drawing by Otto J Schaden
40
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Red glass m-sign with surviving gold foil from the left side of the box,
band three. Photograph: Otto J Schaden
Yellow inlays of paste/pigment in reed signs with J from the phrase
‘...revered, may I see Re [...]’ on the top cross band on the left side of the
box. Traces of gold leaf can be seen in front of and behind both reeds, under
the chin of the seated woman sign and in the lower right corner before the
break. Photograph: Otto J Schaden
Signs filled with red paste or paint: a seated man, ỉmntt and the
‘foreign land’ sign, above blue glass rods in situ.
Photograph: Otto J Schaden
NEW from English Heritage Publishing
Egypt in
England
Blue glass nb-sign with remains of a red glass mn-sign below it.
Photograph: Mary Ann Marazzi
Chris Elliott
for embalming material in KV63. Iny’s name and her title
of Royal Nurse, together with the decoration of the coffin
with glass inlays and gold foil, all show that the owner
was a very important individual, though we may never
know which royal child or children were in her care, as
she is unattested elsewhere.
The materials used to decorate her wooden coffin
provide a brief glimpse into the extended use of glass
inlays towards the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Although Iny’s surviving coffin decoration indicates a
smaller scale of embellishment than that of the sumptuous
glass and faience inlays found on two of the coffins in
the tomb of the Vizier Aper-el at Saqqara, the fact that
expensive glass and gold foil were used to decorate her
coffin indicates her high status in Egyptian society.
A beautifully illustrated guide to the use
of Egyptian style in English architecture
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£25.00 Paperback • Contains 225 illustrations
Published November 2012
ISBN 978-1-84802-088-7 • 320pp, 240x195mm
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q Otto J Schaden is the Director of the Amenmesse Project,
investigating KV10 and KV63. Earl L Ertman is a Professor Emeritus,
University of Akron, and Associate Director of the KV10 and KV63
mission. They would like to thank artist Elaine Taylor, for preparing
the illustrations for this article.
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