In this video [2:39] Met curator Isabel Stunkel on precaution in Hippopotamus dating from Egypt's Middle Kingdom, c. 1961-1878 B.C.E. This well-formed statuette of a hippopotamus [called "William"] demonstrates the Egyptian artist's appreciation for the natural world. It was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz. Beneath the blue-green glaze, the body was painted with the outlines of river plants, symbolizing the marshes in which the animal lived.