Hedgehog in the Brooklyn Museum, March 2010

Hedgehog

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.

Medium: Faience

Place Made: Deir el Nawahid, Egypt

Dates: ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E.

Dynasty: XII Dynasty-early XIII Dynasty

Period: Middle Kingdom

Dimensions: 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm)

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

Accession Number: 65.2.1

Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Text from: www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3735/Hedgehog