Oils, Resins and Perfumes

Thirty-five beautiful vases were found stacked in the Annexe storeroom of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Decorated with floral designs (several of them with columns carefully cut to represent stems of papyrus and lotus), most of them are made of what is popularly called alabaster, but strictly speaking is calcite. The skill of the ancient craftsmen who made these wonderful vases was probably matched by the art of the perfumers who blended their contents (see pls 12 and 13).

Altogether, these vessels would have held some 350 litres of precious oils that must have been worth a pharaoh’s ransom. One actually had a capacity of 14 litres. No wonder, then, that the tomb robbers who entered shortly after the burial tipped out the contents

A beautifully carved alabaster (calcite) perfume vase depicting fecundity deities, representing Upper and Lower Egypt, found in the burial chamber. The sides take the form of lotus and papyrus stalks and flowers. Note the jar (shown in detail in pl 12) and the mayweed flowers ornamenting the linen pall.

Of all the vessels. One of the thieves actually left his fingerprint inside a jar as he scraped out the remaining ointment. However, at the bottom of the largest jar some oil remained, and Carter found that this was still viscid beneath the crust. A thorough analysis at the British Museum and Kew concluded that it consisted of 90 per cent animal fat and about 10 per cent of some resin or balm.

The perfumed oils would have been used as unguents for anointing the head and body. In Egypt’s hot dry climate they would have been a blessing to the skin and scalp, while creating a fragrant atmosphere for the living and the dead. About ‘two bucketfuls’ had been poured over the king’s mummy so that when the discoverers tried to lift the body from its sarcophagus it was impossible to extract it from the mass of solidified unguents. Carter noticed that the oils had not been poured over either the head or feet of the mummy, though it reminded him of the biblical reference to Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ head at Simon’s house with precious spikenard ointment from an alabaster jar, and Christ’s reply that she was anointing his body prior to burial (Mark 14:3-6, 8).