Tourist Guide

Statuette of a Hippopotamus

The piece from the Egyptian art collection at the MET  that appealed to me was the “Statuette of a Hippopotamus,” created during 1981-1885 B.C.E.  This 4 3/8 inch hippo sculpture is made of a quartz ceramic medium called faience, and is painted in a turquoise color with outlines of nature.  The sculpture is not completely naturalistic, but depicts the essence of a delicate and slow but strong and lumbering hippopotamus.
This statuette’s function was similar to that of the Near Eastern lamassus, to protect in the afterlife. Senbi II had this hippo sculpture buried with him in his tomb, along with food, models of boats, and a coffin.  The black outline on the hippo’s body represent the nature of the habitat that the hippo lived in, among marshes and plants.  The turquoise coloring could represent the hippo’s river habitat as well.

But why a hippo?  In Egyptian culture, the hippopotamus was “one of the most dangerous animals in the world.”  Because of their large size, hippos were hazards to many people using the waters for fishing, trade, etc.  In order to control the hippo from also being a hazard to the waters of the afterlife, the sculptor created this statuette and originally had broken off 3 of its 4 legs, (they have been restored by the MET) in order to prevent the creature from “harming the deceased.”  Many of the Egyptian gods and goddesses were also depicted as a hippopotamus because of their reputations to be capable of great destruction as well as carry many things.  The Egyptian goddess Tauret represented fertility and childbirth, depicted as a pregnant hippopotamus standing on her hind legs as half human, half hippo.  The Egyptian god Seth, evil brother of Osiris was also depicted as a hippo because he was the “god of violence, storms, and destructive forces that made Egypt vulnerable.”  This object reflects many of the views in Egyptian culture as many pharaohs have brought tangible objects into their tombs to protect keep them prosperous in the afterlife.  For example they believed that if a sculptor were to bury the pharaoh’s fortune and a replica of his entire army with him in the tomb, he/she would continue to be wealthy and militarily strong in the afterlife.