JdE 39631 -- CG 52674
Gold and inlaid w3h-collar found around the neck of the KV 55
mummy. (From ToQT, pl. XXI.)
The Necklace
JdE
39631 -- CG 52674
Gold and inlaid w3h-collar found around the neck of the KV
55
mummy. (From ToQT, pl. XXI.)
Beneath the wrappings of the mummy, Ayrton described finding "a broad necklace of gold pendants and inlaid plaques connected by rows of minute beads, and ending in large lotus flowers of gold, inlaid with paste." (ToQT, 9.) He gives no further details about the position in which this object was found, but Davis describes it as being suspended "around the neck and resting on the breast beneath the mummy cloth." Davis stated that the necklace had been discovered after he had tried to remove a section of bandages which "came off in a black mass." This exposed the mummy's ribs, and also revealed the necklace. (ToQT, 3.) J. L. Smith's description of the necklace adds nothing to the brief one provided by Ayrton, but contradicts Davis's account. Smith claims that he had been the one who touched the mummy, thereby causing the disintegration of its bandages, and adds that he had to "feel around" in the resultant debris in order to find the necklace, indicating that it had not simply been exposed when the bandages crumbled. (TTAA, 64.) The necklace elements were restrung in Cairo, and are now on display in the Cairo Museum. However, the reconstruction cannot be complete because some of the necklace elements were among the smaller objects stolen from KV 55 by Davis's workmen. (JEA 48 [1962], 162; cf. Larson, KMT [1:2], 43-44.) Although later retrieved by Davis, these particular pieces were not sent by him to Cairo. (For more data on the missing necklace elements, see KV 55's Missing Objects on the menu bar at the left hand side of the main page.) (To compare the KV 55 necklace with the similar one found on the mummy of Tutankhamen, go to no. 053a at the Griffith Institute's Tutankhamen Database.
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