Circular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel Lid

Circular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel Lid

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This box has a swivel top incised with a decorative pattern of concentric and overlapping circles that must have been made with an early version of a drawing compass. The inside of the box was incised with a simple rosette design. The box was found inside a coffin discovered in the tomb of Hatnefer. Other objects in the Museum's collection that were found in the same coffin include: a bowl and two dishes of faience (36.3.9–.10); two mirrors; and five amulets (36.3.20–.24). A similar box from the same period, but made of ivory, is also in the Museum's collection.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Circular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel LidCircular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel LidCircular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel LidCircular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel LidCircular Cosmetic Box with a Swivel Lid

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.