This carved wooden statue, smoothed with gesso and
then painted, is a life-size representation of the
king.
Carter recorded that the figure was beneath one
of the large ceremonial chariots in the southern end
of the Antechamber. The arms have intentionally been
severed to just below the bicep, and the body
extends to just below the hips. Tutankhamun wears a
simple white garment and a flat-topped crown with
protecting uraeus, similar to a crown that
Nefertiti often uses. His ears are pierced, and
his skin is painted a reddish brown in the
convention typical for representing males.
Although Carter had suggested that the figure may
have been a mannequin, similar to a clothes-dummy,
which would hold the garments and jewelry of the
king, it is difficult to find parallel pieces. Other
scholars have pointed out that this torso and
several statues from the Middle Kingdom, which are
somewhat similar in appearance, may all be related
to the rebirth or resurrection of the king in
association with his identification with the god
Osiris. In tombs of the Old Kingdom, there are
also busts similar to this one. They are heads or
torsos sculpted to look as if they were emerging
from the floor or the wall. They appear to be images
of the ka (the corporeal twin and essential
nature of the deceased) coming up from the burial
chamber and entering the offering chapel through or
near the false door, the place where offerings to
the deceased could be made. Because of these
parallels it is likely that this enigmatic statue
has a funerary, rather than domestic purpose.