244 EGYPTIAN MIDDLE KINGDOM TURQUOISE FAIENCE HIPPOPOTAMUS, his back is decorated with two facing lotus flowers and on each side with a leaf, painted in black. Extremely rare. XIIth Dynasty, ca. 1991-1786 BC. L. 3 7/8 in.(9.8 cm.) Ex old French collection; Harer Family Trust, acquired from Royal-Athena in 2001. Daybreak Archeometric Laboratory TL test 61A90: 2700 +/- 1000 years. The hippopotamus was the embodiment of the god Set, the bringer of fierce desert storms. It was a pastime of the pharaohs to hunt hippopotamuses in the delta marshes which may account for the waterplants that often decorate these sculptures. An ancient source indicates that Hor-Aha the second pharaoh of the first dynasty, may have been killed by one of these large mammals while on such a hunt.
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