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<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)
Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)
<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)

<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_view1_erg2.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_view1_erg2.jpg)

<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.65.2.1_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.65.2.1_xrs_detail01.jpg)

<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.65.2.1_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.65.2.1_xrs_detail02.jpg)

<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_neg_L237_27_29_31_bw.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_neg_L237_27_29_31_bw.jpg)

<em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_view2_erg2.jpg)

Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.65.2.1_view2_erg2.jpg)

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Hedgehog

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
When food is scarce, hedgehogs retreat into underground dens for long periods, to re-emerge only in times of abundance. The Egyptians associated this behavior with rebirth and thus wore amulets in the form of hedgehogs or left figures such as this one in tombs. Also, according to the Ebers Medical Papyrus of the early Eighteenth Dynasty, hedgehog spines, when ground up and mixed with fat or oil, cured baldness.
MEDIUM Faience
  • Place Made: Deir el Nawahid, Egypt
    • DATES ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 12 to early Dynasty 13
    PERIOD Middle Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 65.2.1
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Blue-green faience hedgehog with black spots on elliptical base, both left legs slightly advanced and modeled freely in the round. Back is scored in grid pattern and bumpy to simulate quills.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Hedgehog, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2010
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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    <em>Hedgehog</em>, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 65.2.1_SL1.jpg)

    TAGS

    Egyptian
    hedgehog
    ancient
    Egypt
    statuette
    figurine
    sculpture
    blue
    animal
    ceramic
    Amulet
    Faience
    Deir el Nawahid
    ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E.
    Dynasty 12-early Dynasty 13
    Middle Kingdom

    TAGS

    Egyptian
    hedgehog
    ancient
    Egypt
    statuette
    figurine
    sculpture
    blue
    animal
    ceramic
    Amulet
    Faience
    Deir el Nawahid
    ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E.
    Dynasty 12-early Dynasty 13
    Middle Kingdom

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