Circular Lided Basket on a Wood Stand

Circular Lided Basket on a Wood Stand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small circular basket and its convex lid are made entirely of of halfa grass. The coils of the basket have been woven together with strips of grass, some of which have been dyed red and blue to create the pattern. A wood stand made of two bars ending in low feet has been tied to the bottom of the basket with linen cord. The basket was part of the tomb furnishings of Hatnefer (36.3.1), mother of Senenmut, who was an official in the time of Hatshepsut. When found by the Museum's excavators, the cords that were intended to tie the lid shut had been broken and the contents of the basket had been plundered before it was placed in the tomb. The basket still contained a small basket (36.3.60), an alabaster jar (36.3.61), and, a kohl jar (36.3.62) and stick (36.3.63).

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Circular Lided Basket on a Wood StandCircular Lided Basket on a Wood StandCircular Lided Basket on a Wood StandCircular Lided Basket on a Wood StandCircular Lided Basket on a Wood Stand

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.