Statue of the king as the guardian Ka, 18th dynasty, reign of Tutankhamen, 1336-1326 BCE,

Statue of the king as the guardian Ka, 18th dynasty, reign of Tutankhamen, 1336-1326 BCE, wood, gesso, black resin, gold leaf, bronze, white calcite and obsidian, 190 x 56 cm, Egyptian Museum.

Tutankhamen returns to Paris nearly a century after Howard Carter found his tomb. Visitors will be able to admire the treasures that accompanied him to the afterlife, some of which are leaving Egypt for the first time.

It is hard to escape Tutankhamen’s mesmerising gaze, his kohl-lined eyes staring at passers-by from newsstands and walls in the Paris metro. Two weeks before opening, 350,000 tickets have already been sold for the show devoted to the young pharaoh. Will it break the record set by the 1967 Paris exhibition “Tutankhamen and his time”, in other words 1.2 million visitors? Granted, the famous gold mask that drew crowds then could not make the trip. And of the…