Ancient Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, 21st to 25th Dynasty, ca. 1070 to 664 BCE. An extremely rare and desirable pendant depicting a hippopotamus as it grazes on the lush vegetation beneath it. Mold-formed from faience and covered in lustrous layers of azure blue glaze, the magnificent mammal stands with a quartet of nubbin legs atop an integral rectangular plinth and presses its snout onto the ground, its protruding eyes peering forward towards its next bite. The plump, egg-shaped body tilts slightly downwards towards the neckline and is surmounted by a perforated suspension loop, and a sinuous tail hangs between the sizable haunches. Hippopotami were believed to be both malevolent and benevolent creatures, and their association with fertility suggests this pendant was bound to the linen wrappings of a mummy to ensure resurrection and rebirth in the afterlife. An extremely scarce zoomorphic example from ancient Egypt! Size: 1.45" L x 0.57" W x 0.83" H (3.7 cm x 1.4 cm x 2.1 cm)

According to Egyptologist Dorothea Arnold, "The hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, must have been very common in Egypt during the earlier periods, but man's hunting pursuits and ever-increasing encroachment on the hippo's wetland environment gradually reduced the number of these magnificent beasts. The last wild hippos were seen in Egypt in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Egyptians were well aware of the phenomenal strength of the hippopotamus… [though] The awe inspired by an animal that could devastate a farmer's field overnight was tempered by the Egyptians' belief in the animal's revitalizing power. As a creature from the fertile mud, the hippo embodied divine powers guaranteeing rebirth. One might recognize this benevolent aspect of the beast in the friendly faces of many hippo figures." (Arnold, Dorothea. "An Egyptian Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1995, Vol. LII, no. 4, p. 33)

Provenance: private Boynton Beach, Florida, USA collection; ex-Ghassan Haddad collection, London, UK and New York City, New York, USA, from the 1970s to 1980s; ex-private Montreal, Quebec, Canada collection

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#168986

Minor nicks and abrasions to animal and plinth, with several hairline striations to faience underneath glazing, softening to some finer details, light encrustations, and pitting in scattered areas, otherwise intact and excellent. Fantastic preservation to lustrous glaze pigment and zoomorphic form.