Signed Letter from Howard Carter with Quote from King Tut’s Lotus Chalice

Historical — Auction Preview by Ryan Dohm

Heritage Auctions is proud to present this scarce, original Howard Carter Autograph Quotation Signed that will be featured in our upcoming Historical Platinum Signature Auction on July 8, 2023.

November 4, 2022, was an important milestone in world and archaeological history, as it marked the centenary of the discovery of the young king, Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb, located in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The discovery was made by noted British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard Carter and his team of excavators, and the publication of its story set the world upon a full-fledged craze for all things ancient Egypt that is still being felt over one hundred years later.

The story of the tomb’s discovery had it all; a relatively obscure boy king all but unknown in the archaeological record, Howard Carter’s years-long, on-again, off-again search for the tomb, the lure of buried treasure and unimaginable wealth, and finally a bizarre “pharaoh’s curse”, which took off like wildfire after Lord Carnarvon, Carter’s wealthy patron who backed the excavation, suddenly died just months after the discovery. The publication of the tomb’s location and its excavation as it developed, with up-to-the-minute reports, complete with published photographs showing the pharaoh’s artifacts and priceless grave goods, captivated millions around the world.

Shortly after the tomb was opened, when Carter and his team of excavators shone their lights and peered into the crypt for the first time in over 3,000 years, the archaeologist described the historic scene as follows:

“Our sensations and astonishment are difficult to describe as the better light revealed…the marvelous collection of treasures: gilded couches…strange forms…ornamental caskets, alabaster vases, some beautifully executed of lotus and papyrus device.”

Howard Carter

In fact, this alabaster lotus vase turned out to be Tutankhamun’s cup in the form of an open white lotus with two buds on either side, masterfully carved from a single block of pale alabaster stone. Known as the Lotus chalice, or, as Howard Carter called it, “The King’s Wishing Cup”, it featured the god of eternity, Heh, perched above each of the side handles, and represented a powerful symbol of the king’s rebirth and eternal life. Less of a functioning cup than a chalice bearing a personal wish for his happiness, it bears a complex engraved inscription along the rim, painted with blue ink and intended to be read in two directions, giving the king’s names, his titles, and epithets indicating he was “beloved of Amun-Ra, lord of the thrones of the two lands, lord of the sky”, etc.

Howard Carter was especially enamored by one section of the cup’s inscription that reads:

“Love thy soul, mayst thou spend millions of years, thou lover of Thebes, with thy face towards the North Wind, thy eyes Beholding Felicity.”

inscription on king tut’s lotus chalice

So poignant was this phrase to Carter, that when he embarked on a popular lecture tour across the United States in the Spring of 1924, he wrote this very phrase out on a typed letter he received from a lecture attendee requesting that he would, “like very much…your autograph for my collection…containing a line or two about the tomb.” Carter cheerfully obliged the man’s request, to which he signed his name and the date, May 14, 1924. It is this very letter that we are offering in our Historical Platinum Signature Auction.

So beloved was this quote to Carter that, when he died of Hodgkin’s Disease in March of 1939, he had it engraved on his gravestone located in London’s Putney Vale Cemetery. While Howard Carter’s letters and other signed items do occasionally come on to the market, this type of material, bearing such a personal and indelibly linked association to the archaeologist’s career-defining legacy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb, is especially noteworthy and incredibly rare.

Ready to sell your historical items? Consign for this auction by May 8, 2023. Interested in selling? Get a free online authentication and auction value estimate.