Photo Credit © Andreas F., Voegelin, Antikenmuseum, Basel and Sammlung Ludwig
This gilded wooden statue of Tutankhamun, originally mounted on the back of a leopard, represents Upper Egypt. The figure is wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, hedjet and holds the usual royal regalia. In his left hand he holds the 'crook' (the crook was straight when first discovered by Carter and his team), heka, which symbolized 'government', in his right hand he holds the 'flail', nekhakja which is associated with the god Osiris.
Gold represented the flesh of the gods and was used for anything considered eternal or indestructible. Black, the color of the base, symbolized fertility, new life, and resurrection. It was also the color of the god Osiris, and is often used on statues to invoke the process of regeneration ascribed to Osiris.
It is one of 35 statuettes that had been sealed in wooden shrines in Tutankhamun's tomb.