“This statuette of a hippopotamus (popularly called “William”) was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz…
The hippo’s modern nickname first appeared in 1931 in a story that was published in the British humor magazine Punch. It reports about a family that consults a color print of the Met’s hippo—which it calls “William”—as an oracle. The Met republished the story the same year in the Museum’s Bulletin, and the name William caught on.”
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https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544227
“This statuette of a hippopotamus (popularly called “William”) was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz…
The hippo’s modern nickname first appeared in 1931 in a story that was published in the British humor magazine Punch. It reports about a family that consults a color print of the Met’s hippo—which it calls “William”—as an oracle. The Met republished the story the same year in the Museum’s Bulletin, and the name William caught on.”