The golden throne that
Howard Carter discovered in
the Antechamber beneath the hippopotamus couch is
similar to the chair belonging to
Sitamun. The style
was popular for royal chairs of the
Eighteenth
Dynasty. Instead of female torsos protruding from
the seat, however, the more traditional lions are in
their place. Carved of wood, the armchair is covered
in gold, and there is some silver overlay as well.
Colored glass, faience, calcite, and semi-precious
stones are used for the inlays.
The carved plant motif between the feline-form legs
has been removed by the robbers, but the delicate
openwork design of the arms remains intact. On
either side, a winged cobra wears the double crown
and rests on a basket. Her outstretched wings
enclose the hieroglyphs for the "king of Upper and
Lower Egypt" followed by the sign for infinity (
shen).
A cartouche of the king is at the end of her wings
on either side of the chair.
The back of the chair
is supported by three vertical struts; the outer two
are carved with the king's Aton name, the middle one
with that of the queen. Four hooded cobra with solar
disks rise up in pairs between each of the supports.
A carved and gilded scene with birds in a thicket
appears on the outer surface of the back of the
seat. In the triangular opening formed between the
diagonal of the back and the vertical support on
each side is a hooded cobra. The one on the left
wears the red crown of Lower Egypt, while the one on
the right has the white crown of Upper Egypt.
The iconography relates to Atonist doctrines, but
the names of the king and queen appearing on the
chair use both the earlier (Aton) and later (Amon)
forms. Such a combination indicate that the chair
was probably produced rather early in Tutankhamun's
reign, during the period of transition to the
orthodox
religion.