Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Animal Cage
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
One end of this container had an opening that could be closed by sliding a piece of pottery or wood into a slot. It originally had a handle at the top to facilitate transport of its contents. The excavator postulated that it might have been a cage used to house chicks or to incubate eggs. Other scholars have identified it as a mousetrap, but the holes are probably too large to prevent small rodents from escaping.
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