Tutankhamun review – thrills and fun as King Tut gets the Hollywood treatment

Saatchi Gallery, London
This magnificent piece of pop archaeology is full of songs, statues, gems, gods and gold – reminding us that this pharaoh was no warrior king, just a frail boy who loved his boomerangs

It is not the gold that takes your breath away, it’s the craft. More than 3,300 years ago, Egypt’s top artists – we don’t know their names – were summoned to create all the equipment their young pharaoh Tutankhamun would need in the afterlife. Their creations are some of the most graceful and intimate masterpieces of all time – and this sumptuous selection is at the Saatchi for the last leg what claims to be Tut’s farewell tour before he and his treasures get a permanent home at Giza’s new Grand Egyptian Museum next year.

Behold what they made for the boy: vessels of translucent white calcite with delicately carved handles look like the work of some Renaissance mannerist rather than the products of a civilisation contemporary with Stonehenge. Tutankhamun’s art even anticipates much later styles. A bed has lovely lion paws carved with a superb eye. A dainty little portable board game could be played today in the back of a boy-king’s limo. Statues of the pharaoh stride forward with a quality that defies gender stereotypes.

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