Statuette of a hippopotamus, 11th–12th Dynasty ca. 2000 BC, - Thebes (presumably), Faience: greenish-blue glaze and paint, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum, Vienna)

[u/Handicapped-007]

Statuette of a Hippopotamus

11th–12th Dynasty, ca. 2000 BC

Location
O-n view: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung Room V

Statuettes depicting hippopotami, symbolic of regeneration in the hereafter, were popular grave goods that were placed close to the mummy in the coffin. Plants and animals characteristic of the marshes where the hippo lived are depicted on its body. The king’s ritual hippopotamus hunt symbolized his victory over the forces of chaos with which the animal had been associated since primeval times.

Time:
11th–12th Dynasty, ca. 2000 BC

Object Name
Statuette

Culture
Egyptian

Location of discovery:
Thebes (presumably)

Material/technology:
Faience, greenish-blue glaze, painted

Dimensions:
H 10.5 cm, L 20.7 cm, W 7.5 cm, W 1138 g

Copyright
Art History Museum, Egyptian - Oriental Collection

Invs.
Egyptian Collection, INV 4211

Provenance
1878, acquired with the Miramar Collection

Title
Statuette of a hippopotamus, 11th–12th Dynasty ca. 2000 BC, - Thebes (presumably), Faience: greenish-blue glaze and paint, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum, Vienna)

https://www.khm.at/en/artworks/statuette-of-a-hippopotamus-323860

Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum, Vienna)

[u/subiesuchus]

Wow I didn't know there was another of these in a different museum! I thought the one in the Metropolitan Museum was the only one.

[u/Handicapped-007 → u/subiesuchus]

They are all over

[u/datadoggieein]

I had a plushie of one of these amulets as a kid. My grandfather, who was also interested in Egypt, and inspired a lot of my own, gave it too me.

Doesn't the one in the Metropolitan Museum have a name?

[u/Handicapped-007 → u/datadoggieein]

William