Magical container in the shape of a hippo goddess
Description
Second Intermediate Period–New Kingdom, late Dynasty 13–early Dynasty 18, ca. 1700–1500 BCE. Glazed steatite. H. 6 × W. 3.2 × D. 4 cm (2 3/8 × 1 1/4 × 1 9/16 in). From: Egypt. Credit: Gift of G. Macculloch Miller, 1943.
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A small blue-green glazed steatite object shaped like a hippo (hippo goddess), shown seated upright with a human-like posture and stylized details on its body and face.
The image shows a compact figurine/container with a distinctly hippo head and muzzle, rendered in a glossy turquoise/blue-green glaze. The hippo’s face has incised or molded features including a broad jawline and visible teeth. The figure stands or sits on a rectangular base. The torso and sides show incised linear decoration resembling clothing or ritual striping and possibly a wrappedswathed body form typical of Egyptian hippo-goddess imagery. The object appears to have a hollow or container-like function, but the opening is not clearly visible from this single angle. No readable hieroglyphic, cartouches, or other text are visible. The overall style and materials match the museum catalogue’s identification as a hippo goddess magical container, though the deity name cannot be confirmed from the image alone.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116276483 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 43.8a, b tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 547686 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.