The lotus chalice was one of the first objects that Carter and his excavators found on entering the tomb; the vessel was on the floor immediately inside the antechamber.

The supports for the handles are shaped like blue lotus flowers which are flanked by buds growing upward, with the god Heh seated on a basket (the neb symbol) on the tips of the petals.

This iconography is seen more literally in the Head of Nefertem which depicts Tutankhamun emerging from a blue lotus as the newly risen sun god.

Howard Carter copied the inscriptions and asked Alan Gardiner to provide a translation, since he required this for publication.

In addition to being displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the lotus chalice was among the original finds selected for the first temporary exhibition of the grave goods of Tutankhamun.