Giovanni Belzoni in the context of "KV17"

The sarcophagus of Seti I is a life-size sarcophagus of the 19th Dynasty pharaoh Seti I that was discovered in 1817 by the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni in tomb KV17 in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Seti I is believed to have died in 1279 BC and the sarcophagus would have housed his coffin and mummy. It was bought by architect Sir John Soane in 1824 for £2000 (equivalent to £222,000 in 2023) after the British Museum turned it down citing Belzoni's steep price. It is currently displayed in the crypt section, called Sepulchral Chamber, of Sir John Soane's Museum in London. Over 3000 years old, the sarcophagus is one of the oldest museum objects in the United Kingdom in public collection.

The sarcophagus has been displayed in a glass case since 1866.

Tomb WV23, also known as KV23, was the burial place of Ay, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor. The tomb was discovered in 1816 by Giovanni Belzoni. Its architecture is similar to the royal tomb of Akhenaten at Amarna, with a straight descending corridor leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which contains the reconstructed sarcophagus, which was smashed in antiquity. The tomb was anciently desecrated, with many instances of Ay's image or name erased from the wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown in other royal tombs, normally appearing in burials of nobility.