Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · other

Basin

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Copper

AI image analysis claude-haiku-4-5

Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A shallow, flared basin or vessel with a wide opening and tapered body, made of hammered copper with visible surface corrosion and patina consistent with ancient metalwork.

This is a utilitarian copper basin displaying the characteristic form of Old Kingdom metalwork. The vessel exhibits a conical to truncated pyramidal shape with a wide, slightly everted rim and a narrower base. The surface shows extensive green and brown patina typical of ancient copper oxidation, along with areas of mineral encrustation and corrosion deposits. The body appears to be fashioned from hammered sheet metal, evident from the smooth, continuous surface and the slight irregularities characteristic of hand-worked copper. The vessel shows no decorative surface treatment, suggesting a functional domestic or ceremonial purpose. The rim shows some weathering and edge degradation, but the overall form is well-preserved.

decorative good
Materials copper

Connections

Found at Saqqara
Materials StoneCopper
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.