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Lot Essay
It has been suggested that the underside of this dish has been modelled in a way to represent the belly of a hippopotamus.
The hippopotamus was both dreaded and revered by the ancient Egyptians. These enormous gluttonous beasts were hazards in the daily life of Egyptians, as they attacked fishing boats and other river crafts, destroyed the river banks and laid waste to the nearby crop fields. The hippopotamus was thought also to be encountered on the journey into the afterlife, as crossing the river was a metaphor for the passage from one life into the next. Bourriau (Pharaohs and Mortals, Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom, p. 119) informs that "cults of a bull hippopotamus were established in a few places, and there is evidence that the animal was in some situations to be identified with the evil god Seth, opponent of Horus and slayer of Osiris." For a similar example in alabaster, cf. A. el-Khouli, Egyptian Sone Vessels, Mainz, 1978, vol 2, p. 706, pl. 126, no. 5466.
The hippopotamus was both dreaded and revered by the ancient Egyptians. These enormous gluttonous beasts were hazards in the daily life of Egyptians, as they attacked fishing boats and other river crafts, destroyed the river banks and laid waste to the nearby crop fields. The hippopotamus was thought also to be encountered on the journey into the afterlife, as crossing the river was a metaphor for the passage from one life into the next. Bourriau (Pharaohs and Mortals, Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom, p. 119) informs that "cults of a bull hippopotamus were established in a few places, and there is evidence that the animal was in some situations to be identified with the evil god Seth, opponent of Horus and slayer of Osiris." For a similar example in alabaster, cf. A. el-Khouli, Egyptian Sone Vessels, Mainz, 1978, vol 2, p. 706, pl. 126, no. 5466.