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hippopotamus
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, OIM 10707
Hippopotamus
Dynasties 12-17, ca. 1991-1668 B.C.
Purchased in Cairo, 1919
Faience, pigment

For unknown reasons, small figures of hippopotamuses, their legs often broken to render them immobile, were deposited in coffins of the Middle Kingdom. Most are decorated with aquatic motifs that are thought to refer to rebirth in the afterlife.

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