diff --git a/symengine/lib/symengine_wrapper.in.pyx b/symengine/lib/symengine_wrapper.in.pyx
index e10d1476..54407ddc 100644
--- a/symengine/lib/symengine_wrapper.in.pyx
+++ b/symengine/lib/symengine_wrapper.in.pyx
@@ -833,6 +833,9 @@ cdef list vec_pair_to_list(symengine.vec_pair& vec):
 def load_basic(bytes s):
     return c2py(symengine.wrapper_loads(s))
 
+def save_basic(Basic basic):
+    return symengine.wrapper_dumps(basic)
+
 
 repr_latex=[False]
 
diff --git a/symengine/tests/test_pickling.py b/symengine/tests/test_pickling.py
index 5ae64a75..44b7466c 100644
--- a/symengine/tests/test_pickling.py
+++ b/symengine/tests/test_pickling.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from symengine import symbols, sin, sinh, have_numpy, have_llvm, cos, Symbol
+from symengine.lib.symengine_wrapper import load_basic, save_basic
 from symengine.test_utilities import raises
 import pickle
 import unittest
@@ -11,6 +12,12 @@ def test_basic():
     expr2 = pickle.loads(s)
     assert expr == expr2
 
+def test_basic_direct():
+    x, y, z = symbols('x y z')
+    expr = sin(cos(x + y)/z)**2
+    s = save_basic(expr)
+    expr2 = load_basic(s)
+    assert expr == expr2
 
 class MySymbolBase(Symbol):
     def __init__(self, name, attr):