The Museum · the collection

Hippopotamus (“William”)

Unidentified artist, Middle Kingdom Egypt, ca. 1961–1878 BCE. Meir, Egypt.

Thirty works are on view at a time, ten to a room. Every day at midnight UTC, the ten that have hung longest go back into storage and ten others come out, so each work hangs for three days and then rests for three. A work always returns to the same place on the same wall.

A small bright blue faience hippopotamus standing on four short legs, its body painted with black lotus flowers and river plants. — Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). Select it for the full size.

This small hippopotamus is made of faience, a glazed ceramic that fires to this bright blue. Lotus flowers and river plants are painted on its body, as if it were standing in the Nile with the plants around it. It came from a tomb in Middle Egypt. In real life the hippopotamus was one of the most dangerous animals on the river, and figures like this may have carried both delight and caution. Nearly four thousand years later the museum’s visitors gave it a friendly name, William, and it became an unofficial mascot. It is about the size of a loaf of bread, and it looks very pleased with itself.

Look closely

Find the lotus flowers painted on its back and sides.
Look at its face. What expression would you give it?
Notice its legs. How sturdy does it seem?

While you sit

A blue hippo who has been calmly standing in the reeds for four thousand years. There is no rush.

Your seat in the galleries: a pair of rounded sandstone blocks glazed turquoise on top.

About the work

Title: Hippopotamus (“William”)
Artist: Unidentified artist, Middle Kingdom Egypt
Date: ca. 1961–1878 BCE
From: Meir, Egypt
Medium: Faience
Size: L. 20 cm (7 7/8 in.); W. 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.); H. 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.)
Rights: Public domain
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)
Record: The museum's page for this work

The words on this page were written for the campus, not taken from the museum's label.

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The same work without a browser:

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