Yuya Biography
was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He was married to Tuya, an Egyptian noblewoman associated with the royal family, who held high offices in the governmental and religious hierarchies. Their daughter, Tiye, became the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III.
Yuya and Tuyu are known to have had a son named Anen, who carried the titles "Chancellor of Lower Egypt", "Second Prophet of Amun","sm-priest of Heliopolis, and "Divine Father". They may also have been the parents of Ay, an Egyptian courtier active during the reign of Akhenaten, who eventually became pharaoh as Kheperkheprure Ay.
There is no conclusive evidence, however, regarding the kinship of Yuya and Ay, although certainly both men came from the town of Akhmim. The tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu was, until the discovery of Tutankhamun's, one of the most spectacular ever found in the Valley of the Kings despite Yuya not being a pharaoh.
Although the burial site was robbed in antiquity, many objects not considered worth plundering by the robbers remained. Both the mummies were largely intact and were in an amazing state of preservation. Their faces in particular were relatively undistorted by the process of mummification, and provide an extraordinary insight into the actual appearance of the deceased while alive .
Golden Mask of Yuya
Spell 151b of the Book of the Dead describes the funerary mask as an essential element in the protection of the deceased. We have plaster masks of the end of the Old Kingdom.
From the First Intermediate Period, the tissue cardboard and plaster mask was modeled in the image of the deceased head.
From the First Intermediate Period, the tissue cardboard and plaster mask was modeled in the image of the deceased head.
It was generally painted, gilded or decorated with semi-precious stones and colored glass. Royal masks were usually hammered gold adorned with inlaid colored stones or glass. The mask of Yuya, as the eyes are inlaid on the lid of the coffin. The necklace is depicted in relief on plaster. However, the chin is missing.