In the dazzling world of ancient Egypt, few names evoke as much awe and mystery as the golden boy-king Tutankhamun

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is officially opening its doors to the world on 1 November, standing as the largest archaeological museum ever dedicated to a single civilisation.

At its heart lies the dazzling, unparalleled collection of the golden boy-king Tutankhamun displayed for the first time in its entirety. These treasures, hidden for over 3,000 years, are now presented in exquisitely designed galleries that bring each artefact to life through elegant lighting, immersive storytelling, and refined décor.

Every object captures the imagination, inviting visitors to step into the world of ancient Egypt.

Standing before the legendary golden mask of Tutankhamun, you may find yourself mesmerised, wondering how a sculptor more than three millennia ago could create such a timeless masterpiece. The collection was revealed thanks to the ground-breaking discovery of Tutankhamun's intact tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, funded by Lord Carnarvon.

Today, for the first time ever, all of the tomb's contents are united under one roof at the GEM in a once-in-a-lifetime experience for any lover of history and beauty. This article takes readers on a journey through nine of the most magical and enchanting objects from this iconic collection.

HEAD OF NEFERTEM: This wonderful head of Tutankhamun as a child was apparently among the first objects Carter discovered in the tomb lying in the Entrance Corridor next to a pile of waterskins.

However, it seems he did not report this piece to the authorities immediately, and it was discovered by representatives of the then Antiquities Service in the tomb of Ramses XI that was then used by the excavation team for storage on 30 March 1924. It was carefully wrapped and packed in a wooden wine crate at Fortnum and Mason, a London store.

At the time, Carter was in the United States on a lecture tour. The Egyptian authorities immediately suspected that he had been planning so steal this fabulous statue. Herbert Winlock from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York tried to help out by suggesting that Carter had purchased it for Lord Carnarvon from excavations at Amarna in 1923, but the archaeologist himself insisted that it had been found in the tomb and had simply been packed for regular transport to Cairo.

What is the truth here? It is interesting that Carter does not mention this piece in his original notes detailing excavations on the day when this object should have been discovered. "As we cleared the passage, we found mixed with the rubble broken potsherds, jar seals, and numerous fragments of small objects; waterskins lying on the floor together with alabaster jars, whole and broken, and coloured pottery vases; all pertaining to some disturbed burial, but telling us nothing to whom they belonged further than by their type which was of the late XVIII Dynasty," he wrote.

Why didn't Carter mention the head? It is certainly one of the most spectacular pieces from the tomb. Carved of wood, then plastered and painted in warm, life-like colours, it represents the king as the god Nefertem, incarnation of the sun god at dawn. The head rises from a lotus blossom, which closes at night and opens at sunrise, and was thus symbolic of resurrection and rebirth.

In one version of the Egyptian creation myth, the infant sun god was born on top of a lotus blossom that arose from the primordial waters and created light through his eyes. In two-dimensional art, Nefertem is often identified by a lotus-blossom crown on his head; this piece instead places the god on the lotus as if he is being reborn from the heart of a flower.

If the head was indeed found in the corridor of the tomb, the link with rebirth is strengthened, as it might have been placed there by Tutankhamun's priests to magically ensure that the king would leave the tomb through the eastern corridor each morning to be reborn with the sun. Alternatively, it might have been dropped in the corridor by tomb robbers, who would not have been interested in the head itself but in the jewellery that might once have adorned it.

None of this jewellery remains, save on the back and on the post of the earring that once dangled from the pierced left ear. I always use the head of Nefertem as an example of the excellent work done by Egyptian conservators over the years, It travelled overseas with the first Tutankhamun exhibitions in the 1970s and 1980s and was skilfully restored at this time.

I like to show this piece to people who object to the fact that Egypt sends treasures abroad, arguing that they can be damaged. I tell them to look at the head of Nefertem: if it had not travelled, it would not have been restored so beautifully. Objects that travel receive more attention from museum conservators -- and surely this is a good thing.

DRINKING CUP IN THE SHAPE OF A LOTUS: Found just inside the inner blocking of the Antechamber doorway of the tomb, where perhaps it had been dropped by the thieves, this goblet, nicknamed the "Wishing Cup", is in the form of the opened blossom of a white lotus flanked by other blossoms and buds.

On each side, the god of infinity Heh kneels on a basket. In each hand he holds an ankh sign (symbol of life) and the notched palm rib that signifies "millions of years". Below the ribs are tadpoles, the hieroglyph for "100,000".

The names and titles of the king, who is said here to be beloved of the god Amun, are incised on the belly of the cup and painted in blue. The horizontal inscription around the rim reads "may your ka [lifeforce] live, and may you pass [live] one million years, one who loves Thebes and dwells in it, your face towards the northern wind: may your eyes see the good place."

A powerful symbol of rebirth, this lotus cup, from which the king would probably have drunk water or wine, magically offered resurrection, happiness, and eternal life to Tutankhamun.

Egyptian artisans had already mastered the art of carving hard stone by the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period (around 3000 BCE). Examples from the early periods of Egyptian history, made from stones such as granite, diorite, basalt, schist, and calcite, have a bold simplicity of design and execution. Stone vessels went out of fashion after the early Old Kingdom, but stone working techniques were never lost, and the art was revived in the New Kingdom.

Far from being similar to the simple shapes seen in the Early Dynastic Period, however, many of the over 80 calcite vases from Tutankhamun's tomb are elaborate, complex expressions of the stone-carver's art.

This elegant cup was carved from a single piece of calcite, except for the separately carved handles. The stone came from the site of Hatnub in Middle Egypt, the name of which means "Place of Gold", and it is thought that this material was associated with the sun god Amun-Re and thus with the king in his identification with this deity.

CORSELET: This remarkable work of art is a ceremonial version of the leather and metal chest protector that the king would have worn when he went hunting or into battle.

Such body armour is often depicted in temples and tombs, but this is the only example known from ancient Egypt. The god Amun, patron of the warrior Pharaohs of the New Kingdom, often wears a corselet like this one. It thus has links with the role of the king as the earthly incarnation of Amun and emphasises Tutankhamun's connection to this god.

Tutankhamun himself is seen wearing such a corselet on a number of objects found in his tomb, for instance on the Golden Fan, as he rides into the desert to hunt ostriches, and on the Hunting Box, where the king is depicted both hunting and riding his chariot into battle.

Again, when he stands between Ptah and Sekhmet in the pendant of his "Coronation" Pectoral, Tutankhamun wears a jewelled garment similar to this one.

One of the most elaborately worked objects found in the tomb, the corselet consists of several major parts. First is a wide band made up of pieces of coloured glass sewn onto a cloth backing that would have wrapped around the king's torso, covering him from his waist to just below his pectorals.

Carter found long golden elements with the corselet that fastened the garment at the sides. Thin straps inlaid with glass and an elaborate collar held the corselet over the shoulders and around the neck.

The broad collar, both front and back, was composed of alternating rows of pieces of light and dark blue faience and carnelian, with a band of floral ornaments along the outer edge. At the front, a pectoral joined the broad collar to the main body of the corselet; it is made of carnelian, green and blue glass, and a whitish material that Carter thought might be agate but has now been identified as an unusual white glass, all set into a frame of gold.

The scene shows Amun-Re, king of the Egyptian pantheon, presenting Tutankhamun with a palm rib representing millions of years, from which hangs a pavilion containing two thrones, symbolising a long reign. Behind the king is the creator god Arum shown as a falcon-headed man and his consort.

Balancing this pectoral at the back of the broad collar is an arrangement with a winged scarab beetle with the hind legs of a bird pushing a sun disk, symbol of the dawn; on either side are hooded cobras, one in the white crown of Upper Egypt and the other in the red crown of Lower Egypt.

Ankhs, the hieroglyphs for life, hang from the claws of the scarab/bird and the bodies of the cobras. It seems that the god Amun was granting the king the rule of the Two Lands on earth and welcoming him to the ranks of the divine.

The craftsmanship of this entire piece, notably the way in which the individual parts were painstakingly put together and the attention to detail evident in the composition, is extraordinary. It seems that the artist drew the meaning and shape from his imagination and began to create his masterpiece.

Unfortunately, we do not know the name of the jeweller responsible for this corselet: in ancient Egypt, all art was for the sake of religion, and most ancient artists remain anonymous. I have found one exception to this, however, in a beautiful tomb that I recently excavated at Giza belonging to a priest named Kai, where the master artisan had secretly signed his name under one scene.

Most of the corselet was discovered inside Box 54 in the tomb lying on top of a group of vases. However, as a result of the depredations of the tomb robbers and the carelessness with which the necropolis officials replaced the stolen objects, other elements were found on the floor nearby, and still others were scattered around the antechamber.

Much of the corselet's broad collar was found in the Small Golden Shrine; another part was discovered mixed with dates inside a dish; and one of the feather inlays was found jumbled together with pieces of a royal chariot.

GOLDEN THRONE: Found bound with linen bands and hidden beneath the Ammut Couch, the Golden Throne is a match for any item of royal furniture ever created. It is easy to imagine Tutankhamun seated on this exquisite chair, with its slightly tilted back and roll top, receiving dignitaries from foreign lands in a stately manner.

Built of multiple pieces of wood fastened together, the entire chair has been covered with either painted gilding or sheets of gold on which intricate images have been chased and then, in many places, inlaid with semiprecious stones and coloured glass. The throne is almost completely intact, having lost only the vertical struts that decorated the area between the seat and the leg braces.

On the back is an image of the king seated on a throne apparently identical in shape to this one. Tutankhamun is shown wearing a pleated kilt, a broad collar, and a short round wig held in place by a fillet topped by an extremely elaborate headdress known as an atef crown.

Ribbons flutter behind him, and his feet rest on a footstool, probably decorated with Egypt's enemies so thar he could trample them symbolically even while seated.

The Pharaoh's wife Ankhsenamun stands before him, anointing him with perfumed oil from a silver vessel. The bejewelled queen wears a flowing pleated robe and a sort of Nubian wig adopted from a hairstyle worn by Nubian mercenaries in the Egyptian army topped by a crown composed of two plumes and a sun disk.

Behind the queen is a stand on which rests a broad collar similar to the one worn by both figures (shown as if in a bird's eye view, as the principal purpose of Egyptian art was to convey information rather than represent reality). The royal garments here are made of silver, a metal much less common in Egypt than gold.

The exposed skin of both king and queen has been inset with dark red glass. This is not unusual for a male, as traditionally men were shown in this colour. However, women are more often shown with golden-yellow skin, presumably because they spent most of their time indoors out of the fierce Egyptian sun. Here, however, husband and wife are both standing in the rays of the sun disk, an image of the great god Aten, which extend towards them, offering them life in the form of ankh signs.

The arms of the throne are composed of winged cobras wearing the double crown of a united Egypt. Between the tips of each snake's wings are cartouches containing the name of the king. Smaller cobras peer out from the space between the throne's sloping back and the perpendicular slats that support it; the cobra on the right wears a tall silver crown -- the white crown of Upper Egypt -- and the cobra on the left wears a short golden crown -- the red crown of Lower Egypt.

This distinction may indicate the proper orientation at which the throne would have been set, with the silver-crowned cobra to the south and the gold-crowned one to the north, an arrangement probably echoed by the now-lost struts, with lilies, representing Upper Egypt, on the right, and papyrus, for Lower Egypt on the left. Beautifully crafted lion's heads adorn the front of the seat, and the legs are shaped like feline limbs, complete with inlaid claws.

This magnificent throne clearly dates front the beginning of Tutankhamun's reign if not before: the names which the king and queen were given at birth and under which they ruled for almost two years -- Tutankhaten, "living image of the Aren," and Ankhsenpaaten, "may she live for the Aren" -- are still visible on the back slats. Both the iconography and the style of the figures, with their soft, rounded forms and relaxed postures, are very much of the Amarna Period.

The throne is one of the great masterpieces from the tomb, along with the mask and the innermost coffin. Carter himself stated that "I have no hesitation in claiming for it that it is the most beautiful thing that has yet been found in Egypt." I also see it as both a seat on which the Pharaoh could ascend to the sun and a wonderful image of the deep love between the king and his queen.

TORSO OF TUTANKHAMUN: When I look at this object found below one of the chariots in the tomb, I feel as if I am looking directly at Tutankhamun himself.

Made of gessoed and painted wood, this unique figure is a life-size model of the head and torso of the king. The colours with which it has been painted -- pale yellow for the shirt that covers the torso, yellow for the crown, and a dark reddish brown for the face, with details of the features and uraeus on the front of the crown added in other hues -- give this an incredibly life-like appearance.

The face is clearly Tutankhamun's, with its distinctive oval shape, full cheeks, rounded chin, large eyes, elegant nose, and Cupid's bow lips. Set next to the Nefertem head, there is no doubt that the same youth, albeit older here, is represented. Even the slightly protruding ears with their large piercings are a match. To me, this is one of the most beautiful objects from the tomb.

The purpose of this figure remains a mystery to scholars. Only the upper arms are included, and Carter suggested that it was a mannequin used to hold the king's robes and jewellery in preparation for ritual occasions or for fittings like a dressmaker's dummy. There are marks on the surface that might match a corselet, adding credence to this theory. If this were the case, it perhaps once stood in the royal palace or in a temple. However, I do not accept this interpretation, as it seems to me that it is a European construct and a concept that would not have applied to an ancient Egyptian object.

It is possible instead that it was some sort of ritual figure, like the Nefertem head. It cannot, however, be interpreted as a ka figure for receiving offerings, like many tomb figures, because it has no arms.

Scholars have drawn parallels between this artefact and some Middle Kingdom statues that seem to relate to the identification of the king with Osiris and thus his eternal rebirth. It might be linked to even earlier sculptures, seen in several Old Kingdom tombs, where heads or torsos are shown emerging from the floor or wall, but again, these have arms.

In some ways it also resembles the ancestor busts found in private contexts in the later New Kingdom, but in other respects it is quite different from these. Another possible explanation is that it is only part of a larger statue. Egyptian statuary was often made in several pieces that were then joined together.

In many cases, a variety of materials were used in a single sculpture. Although there are no signs of attachment here, and no evidence for additional pieces was found nearby, I still believe that this might be only part of what was meant to be a complete statue of the king.

The crown is unusual. It most resembles the flat leather bonnet worn by the god Amun (the head of the Egyptian pantheon at this time), but Amun's headdress does not include a uraeus as is seen here. The face also lacks a divine beard, so although some link with Amun can be suggested, the figure cannot be interpreted strictly as an image of the king as this god.

The crown also brings to mind a platform crown seen worn by Akhenaten in many relief scenes, but we do not know what this meant to either Akhenaten or Tutankhamun. One thing seems certain: Egyptologists will surely continue to struggle with the interpretation of this object for some time to come.

THE THIRD COFFIN: The second coffin in the tomb had no handles and fitted closely inside the first; there was also almost no gap between its lid and its shell. Thus, the task of extracting it and raising its lid presented the archaeological team with an immensely difficult challenge.

Carter's diary for 20 October 1925 expresses his feelings at this time. "Without some experience of handling heavy and yet fragile antiquities under very difficult circumstances, few can realise that nerve racking undertaking and responsibility," he wrote.

"The raising of a lid of a coffin or lifting the coffin itself seems a comparatively simple job; but when one realises that it is deep down in the interior of a sarcophagus where it fits quite closely, that it is in a very fragile condition, that it is immensely heavy, that the overhead room in the chamber is very limited, and that one does not even know whether its wood is sufficiently well preserved to bear its own weight, the reader will perhaps begin to realise what an anxious work it really is."

"After consultation with one's colleagues and careful consideration, a plan of action is formed, you begin to carry it out... Special appliances are devised, and as far as it is humanly possible you have taken every precaution. Everything goes well until suddenly, in the middle of the process, you hear a crack -- little pieces of surface ornament fall clink on the floor of the sarcophagus or chamber -- the only space available is now crowded with your men, and in a moment you have to discover what is happening -- what is the trouble and what immediate action is required to prevent a catastrophe."

"Again, the interest of seeing some fresh and beautiful object exposed as a lid is being raised will often distract your workmen; for a moment they forget their duty and irreparable damage may be done. Such is more often an archaeologist's lot and afterwards he is asked what his sensations were when so and so was first discovered."

I can vouch for the enormous stress that comes with being the one ultimately responsible for the safety of a priceless artefact. Carter's team solved the problem of raising the second coffin out of the first by pulling the pins that held the lid to the shell part of the sarcophagus out and using them for purchase.

Wires were attached to these pins, and then separate wires were threaded through metal eyelets screwed into the shell of the outermost coffin. All the wires were attached to a scaffold. The wooden planks supporting all the coffins were removed and the outer coffin was lowered back. Next, a new wooden tray was slid beneath the second coffin to support it, and preparations were made to remove the fragile lid.

Again, using a system of modern metal eyelets, screwed in where they were least likely to disfigure the decoration, the team succeeded in raising the lid. Beneath was a third anthropoid form, shrouded this time with a pall of reddish linen. The face had been left uncovered and gleamed with gold.

When they had first raised the nested coffins, the excavators had been surprised by their great weight. As they removed this garland and linen pall, the mystery was solved: the innermost coffin was of solid gold, tribute to the great wealth commanded by the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty. Carter cleaned off the dark, resinous material with which it had been coated during the funeral ceremonies, making it possible to appreciate the exquisite piece.

"Both technically and artistically," Carter commented, the coffin is "a unique example of the metal workers art".

It is made of beaten solid gold, ranging in thickness from 2.5 to 3 mm, with details skilfully chased into the surface. Like the second coffin, it takes the form of the king as Osiris, wearing the Nemes headdress with cobra and vulture, and holding the crook and flail. Two gold and faience shebyu collars were hung around Tutankhamun's neck, emphasising the deceased king's divinity. The body is covered with a rishi pattern and is here protected by Nekhbet and Wadjet across the king's chest just below his crossed arms and Isis and Nephthys over his legs.

Various parts of the decoration, especially on the headdress, face, and upper part of the body, were added in sheet gold and inlaid in coloured glass and semiprecious stones; the other details were engraved into the surface. The calcite used for the whites of the eyes had decayed, leaving behind only the obsidian pupils.

The sticky, hardened unguents poured over the innermost coffin during the funeral had attached it firmly to the second coffin. Carter therefore decided to raise the lid of the third coffin before trying to remove it from the second, and moved both together into the antechamber, where there was more space.

The lid of the innermost coffin was joined to its shell by gold tongues sunk into sockers and fixed in place with gold pins. The pins were extracted using long screwdrivers as levers and the lid was raised.

Underneath was the "very nearly wrapped" mummy of the king himself, his head covered by the gold mask that has become a symbol for the glory of Ancient Egypt.

THE GOLDEN MASK: This spectacular mask represents an idealised portrait of the king.

Intrinsically beautiful due to the precious materials and masterful workmanship that went into its creation, it was also an essential item of the royal burial equipment, serving as an image that the soul could enter and occupy during the afterlife if something happened to the body.

Carter found that the resinous material that had been used to anoint the body during mummification and the funeral had left this mask stuck to the king's head and shoulders. After several failed experiments he ended up using hot knives to cut the mask free removing the mummy's head in the process.

This mask is always in my mind. I imagine that it is 1925, and I am seeing it for the first time, hiding the head and chest of the king. Do I remove the mask and damage the mummy, or do l leave it in place and exhibit the mummy with the mask? I would do what Carter did and take the mask off, even if I had to dismantle the mummy to do so.

The artisans who crafted this masterpiece began by hammering together two thick sheets of gold, thought by the ancient Egyptians to echo the flesh of the gods. They then shaped this metal into the likeness of the king wearing the striped Nemes headcloth, using inlays or semiprecious stones and coloured glass to add colour and detail. The whites of the eyes were inlaid with quartz, and obsidian was used for the pupils. Red paint was lightly brushed into the corners of the eyes, subtly increasing their realism.

Recent X-ray analysis of the mask by professor Uda Yoshimura of Waseda University has shown that a very thin layer of a silver-rich gold, whiter than the core of the mask, was added to the burnished surface to enhance its radiance.

The cosmetic lines around the eyes and the curving eyebrows were inlaid with lapis lazuli. The earlobes were pierced with large holes, which were then covered with gold foil that was present at the time of the discovery but has since been removed. Two horizontal lines were engraved on the front of the neck; this feature, along with the almond-shaped eyes, full lips, and elongated face, identifies the mask as a product of artists trained during the Amarna Period.

Glass inlays of deep blue, imitating lapis lazuli, form the stripes of the headcloth. The vulture and cobra adorning the king's brow, images of the protective goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively, were made of solid gold with inlays of lapis lazuli, carnelian, faience, and glass. The long-curled beard on the king's chin, emblematic of divinity, is made of blue glass laid into a golden framework.

Covering the chest is an elaborate broad collar consisting of 12 rows of beads made of lapis lazuli, carnelian, amazonite, and glass paste. The clasps of the collar take the form of the head of the falcon god Horus. Such collars were traditionally worn for festival and cultic celebrations.

On the shoulders and the back of the mask is a magical text that refers to the different parts of the body and mask and their connection to gods and to particular gods or goddesses. This served to protect the king's body and render it functional for the afterlife.

Although the Golden Mask formed part of the original Tutankhamun touring exhibition in 1972, it has not left Egypt since the early 1980s and will not travel again. I am often asked about the mask and whether it will ever go on exhibition outside Egypt again. I reply that it is too fragile to travel and that taking it away from Egypt would disappoint the thousands of tourists who come to Cairo just to see this unique object.

Whenever a television programme wants to interview me about the golden boy-king, I go directly to the mask. While the film crew is setting up the cameras, I have a chance to look again at the mask and 1 always discover something new. Each time, its beauty makes my heart tremble.

CANOPIC SHRINE AND CANOPY: This gilded wooden canopic shrine and its matching canopy were set against the eastern wall of the treasury, positioned facing the west, the land of the dead. The canopy consists of four posts inscribed with the names, titles, and epithets of Tutankhamun and supporting architraves topped by a cavetto cornice that imitates the top of a reed wall.

Around the upper edge of the canopy rears a frieze of solar uraei (cobras with sun disks on their heads) of blue-glazed pottery and wood inlaid with copper and coloured glass. At the bottom the posts fit into the runners of a sledge; both canopy and sledge are gessoed and gilded with gold foil. On the roof are engraved spells spoken by Nut, Isis, and Nephtys.

The shrine within the canopy takes the form of the per-wer, the sacred cult structure originally associated with Upper Egypt, and on top is another frieze of solar uraei. The walls are gessoed and gilded and decorated with paired images of the goddesses and gods charged with protecting the viscera of the king: on the west are Isis and Imsety (the liver); on the south are Nephthys and Hapy (lungs); to the north are Neith with Duamutef (stomach), accompanied by the earth god Geb; and on the east are Selket and Qebehsenuef (intestines), with the creator god Arum and the composite funerary god Prah-Sokar-Osiris. These images are surrounded by hieroglyphic spells spoken by various divinities.

The shrine was the subject of rumours of a curse and was reported to bear the inscription "those who will enter the sacred tomb, they will be visited by the wings of death quickly."

Exquisitely carved and gilded figures of the four tutelary canopic goddesses stand on the sledge: Isis to the west; Nephthys to the east; Neith to the north; and, my personal favourite, Selket, to the south. Each is dressed in a pleated dress and bead collar and identified by a large hieroglyphic symbol on her head. The four graceful figures face inward with their heads turned slightly to one side and their arms outstretched to protect the shrine. It is interesting to note that the figures of Nephthys and Selket were switched.

The statuette of Selket was sent abroad with the Tutankhamun exhibition that travelled in the 1970s and 1980s. While she was in Germany, the scorpion hieroglyph on her head was damaged. Fortunately, it was repaired, but this accident caused the Egyptian parliament to decide that the treasures of Tutankhamun should not be allowed to travel in the future.

It was only recently that this ban was lifted, although some of the most important artefacts will never again leave Egypt.

CANOPIC STOPPERS: The canopic shrine had no bottom, and inside it, atop a smaller sledge with silver-coated runners, stood a chest carved from a single block of calcite. Draped over this was a folded linen sheet.

The lid of the chest echoes the sloping per-wer roof of the outer shrine and canopy, while its sides are inclined slightly inward and are decorated at their corners with carved images of the same four protective goddesses who stood on each side of the canopic shrine.

The interior of the chest is of unusual design. Where one would normally expect to find four separate compartments, each containing an actual canopic jar, there are instead indications of the divisions for the four sections carved into the solid body of the chest, each occupied by a cylindric hollow with a raised hem in imitation of a canopic jar. Each of the jars thus formed is topped with a separately carved human-headed stopper in the form of the king in Nemes headdress, also made of calcite with details such as eyes, lips, and ornaments of the protective Nemes and vulture picked out in red and black parts.

The four stoppers face inwards toward the centre of the chest. All are marked underneath with a symbol indicating their corner position. Inside the hollows were the four canopic coffinettes.

Whether these stoppers were in fact carved for Tutankhamun is the subject of some controversy: the facial features of the four lids vary slightly, but all show the same large almond-shaped and heavy-lidded eyes, narrow toned-down mouth, and square but delicate chin. Because these characteristics do not exactly match those found in the portraits of Tutankhamun like the Golden Mask, it is possible that this chest, like a number of other objects in the tomb, was actually carved for his predecessor Ankhkheperure.

It is unclear how these became part of Tutankhamun's burial assemblage. Perhaps they were left in storage when the ones made for their intended were left over, or they may have been used in the other tomb and then usurped by Tutankhamun.