Among the traditional
deities restored during the reign of Tutankhamun
was the goddess
Sekhmet. This figure was among the twenty-seven
that were stored in several boxes in the Treasury.
Carved of wood, they were covered with gesso,
smoothed and gilded. The eyes and noses have inlays
of colored
glass. The goddess has the body of a human
female, but the head of a lioness. She wears a
wig commonly used during the New Kingdom, and there
is a solar disk atop her head. The pattern of her
floral collar is visible only between the frontal
part of her wig; the straps of her empire-waist gown
are indicated just below the collar. The garment she
wears represents the classic
dress with applied beaded netting. The throne on
which she sits is typical for both royal and divine
figures of the New Kingdom. The plants symbolic of
Upper and Lower Egypt are in relief on a panel on
the side, and the whole is covered in a feather
pattern.
Sekhmet, whose name means "Powerful One",
was primarily regarded as a war goddess. In a
funerary text, she is the protectress of several
groups of foreigners. The Memphite triad of which
she was part included the gods
Ptah and
Nefertem; they are also represented in the tomb.
Along with her husband, Ptah, she destroyed the
enemies of the sun god and of the king who
accompanied him.