Hanging bread basket

**Domestic storage and rustic texture.** The wicker basket hangs high on the left wall, a practical placement that would help keep bread away from mice. Its woven texture also lets Vermeer contrast rough, brown, matte surfaces with the gleam of ceramics and the cool white wall. The basket belongs to the painting’s network of humble household objects, turning an ordinary kitchen corner into a carefully staged meditation on labor, food, and light. **References:** Essential Vermeer catalogue entry on _The Milkmaid_; Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition texts; Metropolitan Museum of Art essay on Vermeer and _The Milkmaid_.

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