Two Hippos Painted Faience Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate Period, ca. 1938-1539 B.C.E. Provenance not known Top hippo: Brooklyn #L48.7.19, Collection of Robin B. Martin, 4 1/4 x 6 9/16 in. (10.8 x 16.7 cm) Lower hippo: Brooklyn #70.93.2, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 3 9/16 x 2 3/4 x 4 15/16 in. (9 x 7 x 12.5 cm) Hedgehog Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm) Middle Kingdom, Dynasty: XII Dynasty-early XIII Dynasty, ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E. From Deir el Nawahid, southeast of Abydos 65.2.1, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund Hedgehog Rattle Painted Faience, 1 x 2 5/8 x 1 3/8 in. (2.5 x 6.7 x 3.5 cm) Middle Kingdom, XII Dynasty-early XIII Dynasty, ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E. Provenance not known Brooklyn #59.186, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

(From the info cards) "When food is scarce, hedgehogs retreat into underground dens for long periods, only to re-emerge in times of abundance. The Egyptians associated this behavior with rebirth and thus wore amulets in the form of hedgehogs or left figures such as this one in tombs. Also, according to the Ebers Medical Papyrus of the early Eighteenth Dynasty, hedgehog spines, when ground up and mixed with fat or oil, cured baldness." "The hollow body of this hedgehog figure contains tiny pellets that rattled when it was shaken. The ancient Egyptians used rattles to ward off harmful forces such as snakes, scorpions, or malevolent spirits. When attacked, a hedgehog rolls into a ball, exposing a mass of pointed spines to the predator. To the Egyptians, this behavior—imitated in this figure—made the hedgehog an ideal protective symbol."