What is 'faience'?
It is technically a synthetic compound consisting of ground quartz held together by an alkaline binder and usually covered with brightly colored glaze. Faience was frequently glazed with brilliant blues which served as a cheap alternative to 'lapus-lazuli,' a mineral with a brilliant blue color that was very valuable. Faience was modeled or pressed into molds and then fired to make amulets, statuettes, and other objects.
For the Egyptians, the lighter shade of blue was almost interchangeable with green, the color of the sea, plants, vegetation, and thus health and life.
Why did the ancient Egyptians snap off the hippo statuette legs before putting them into tombs?
That's a great observation and excellent question. Powerful icons were placed in tombs to serve specific purposes for the journey to the afterlife. The standing hippopotamus represented Seth, the brother of Osiris who murdered him and then claimed his throne. It was thus a symbol of chaos. Egyptians controlled negative forces in the tomb by including a hippopotamus with the legs purposely broken.
What did scarabs and hippos represent to ancient Egyptians?
This kind of beetle was highly symbolic to ancient Egyptians, it represented rebirth and renewal. They believed that the sun was pushed across the sky every day by a giant scarab, the god Khepri. In real life, the scarab beetle lays its eggs in a ball of dung and rolls the ball ahead of it wherever it goes. When the young beetles hatch they pop out through the dung which seemed like a miracle to the Egyptians!
As for hippos -- they were a common sight along the Nile river, for one thing. They are powerful animals and dangerous ones, they were hazards to boats and to humans.
Some sculptures of hippos are decorated with designs of plants that were common to the Nile region. Do you see any like this?
We did!
Was it a blue hippo?
Yeah! Is that color special for Egyptians?
Yes, incredibly special!
For the Egyptians the lighter shade of blue was almost interchangeable with green, the color of the sea, plants, vegetation, and thus health and life. Turquoise, a popular stone, mined primarily in the Sinai was closely linked to the goddess Hathor, the Lady of Turquoise.
The darker shade of blue was associated with the dark primordial waters out of which creation first appeared, as well as the night sky through which the sun-god travelled to be reborn every morning. The close links between dark blue and black also evoke the black mineral-rich soil of the Nile valley which was great for agriculture. All of the above hold the significance of creation and resurrection. In sculpture this color usually appears as lapis-lazuli, an imported stone often used to represent dark hair.
Could you tell me how faience was made?
Faience is a man-made mixture of "ground quartz or quartz-sand held together by and alkaline binder. The bright and shiny surface
seen on this figurine is a result of glazing. The glaze was made of a form of powdered glass mixed with a liquid and applied either with a brush or by dipping the entire figurine.
It gets it's blue color from copper that is mixed into or applied to the surface of the quartz body before firing.
How does this hippo relate to that of the famous one at the Met?
The famous hippo at the Met is actually one of many faience sculptures of hippos, all of which represented the control of chaos and were often buried in tombs from the Predynastic Period through the Second Intermediate Period.
The Met example, like this one, actually has its legs broken off, but there, the legs have been reconstructed for display. The legs were intentionally broken off to control the destructive power of the hippo before placing the object in the tomb, which is why you see this one displayed legs up!
They do look remarkably similar, don't they?
They do! Why do you think the Met figure's legs were reconstructed?
It might have been for aesthetic reasons, or to show what the hippo looked like when it was first made.
The Brooklyn Museum actually has a version with restored legs on the third floor as well!
Can you tell me more about this hippo?
You may have seen hippos like this before, they are found most often in tombs dating to the Middle Kingdom period. The broken legs were meant to symbolically disable to hippo and protect the deceased from its chaotic and damaging powers.
The designs on the hippo represent its natural environment. The aquatic plants, like the lotus, and the bright blue color are meant to make it look like the hippo is under water.
If hippos were potentially a threat to the person buried in the tomb, why were they buried in the tomb even with broken legs? Did they aid the departed in some way?
A broken hippo placed in the tomb served as a sort of amulet against forces of chaos and danger.
You will see a lot of this sort of duality when it comes to Egyptian ideas about animals: the same beast can have both positive and negative associations.
Hippos were also seen as relating to fertility. In the context of rebirth, you can see why this would have been valuable.
You could even think about harnessing their destructive powers for your own protection.
Interesting. Are hippos particularly fertile animals? Or are they just very aggressive, and thus considered virile?
Hippos are known to be very protective of their young, which was the aspect that ancient Egyptians were especially looking to harness with tomb equipment.
There is also a particular association between flora and fauna living in the Nile (the source of life in Egypt) and fertility.
Ah, that makes sense.
Why is the hippo blue?
The blue color was associated with the marshes where the hippos lived, and where life is said to have originated according to Egyptian mythology.
