hipopotamus

 The figurines of female hippopotami were often part of funerary material of the Middle Kingdom. The blue colour of the skin, which is not natural, refers to the aquatic environment in which the animal lived and symbolises fertility and fecundity. They are also decorated with aquatic plants, such as the lotus, symbol of rebirth. This lovely example from Brussels has been found in a tomb of Abydos during the excavations of J. Garstang in 1908. It is certain that this figurine also had a protective role.

 Abydos

 MIDDLE KINGDOM

 

 KMKG - MRAH [07/003]

 07/003/428 inventory

 

 

 L. Keimer, Nouvelles recherches au sujet du "Potamogeton Lucens" L. dans l'Égypte ancienne et remarques sur l'ornementation des hippopotames en faïence du Moyen Empire, REA 2 (1909) 218 nº 2

(M. Werbrouck,) Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles. Département égyptien, Album, Bruxelles 1934, pl. 53

J.-Ch. Balty, e.a., Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis, Brussel, Oudheid - Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, Antiquité - The Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Antiquity, Bruxelles 1988, 21

A. Behrmann, Das Nilpferd in der Vorstellungswelt der Alten Ägypter, Frankfurt 1989, I, doc. 142 f. 12

F. Lefebvre et B. Van Rinsveld, L'Égypte. Des Pharaons aux Coptes, Bruxelles 1990, 70

 

 http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=428