Taweret stone statuette, Egypt Late Period 664-332 BC

Statuette of Taweret
Egypt, Late Period, 664-332 BC
Green stone
H. (without base) : 10.6 cm
Provenance: Former French collection

This statuette depicts the hippopotamus goddess Taweret standing, in a walking posture, with her mouth slightly open, revealing her teeth and tongue. She wears a tripartite wig, and her back is adorned with a crocodile tail.

The statuette is sculpted from a beautiful, homogeneous green stone, whose extreme hardness could only be worked through a lengthy process of abrasion. The volumes were then softened by polishing, and some tool marks remain visible in the recesses.

Taouret, derived from the Egyptian "Ta-ouret" meaning "The Great One," is a protective deity of households, particularly of maternity, symbolized by her rounded belly and sagging breasts. Statuettes and apotropaic amulets were made to represent this benevolent figure of Egyptian mythology, unlike the male hippopotamus, a malevolent beast associated with the god Seth.