Hippopotamus ("William")

There are lotus plants all over this hippo. Their dark stems and flowers spread across a blue body made of faience, a glazed material whose main ingredient is ground quartz. The decoration gives the animal a miniature version of its watery home. The river plants also carried an idea of rebirth. Lotus flowers close at night and open again in the morning. For the Egyptians, that daily return made them suitable companions for an object placed in a burial. This hippo belonged to the funerary equipment of Senbi II, a steward buried at Meir. A real hippopotamus could overturn boats and threaten people on the Nile. Its power needed managing even in the afterlife. Three legs on this figure have been restored. The original legs were probably deliberately broken to prevent the animal from harming the dead man. The friendly name William came much later, through a story published in the British magazine Punch in 1931. Take another look at the painted marsh plants. They belong to the ancient figure’s story, long before it acquired a modern name.