Hippopotamus

Description This baby hippo was purchased by Henry Walters, the founder of the Walters Art Museum, on a trip to St. Petersburg in 1900. It was one of four hardstone animals that he acquired for his collection on this cruise. Henry, ever ahead of trends, was one of the first Americans to shop at the newly opened store belonging to Carl Fabergé, jeweler to the Russian royal family. He would have known Fabergé's exceptional work from the Paris World's Fair, which he had visited in this same year. Henry went on to purchase two Imperial Easter Eggs by Fabergé following the Russian revolution. Today the Walters has a rich collection of Russian art from the time of the Romanovs.

Conservation

Cleaned in preparation for exhibition.

Cleaned in preparation for exhibition.

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Examination	Cleaned
12/31/1969	Treatment	Cleaned.

Exhibitions

• Objects of Vertu: Precious Works of the Eighteenth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• The Fabergé Menagerie. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus; Portland Art Museum, Portland. 2003-2004.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.
• Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017-2018.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1900, by purchase [from the factory]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1900