Art Institute of Chicago

Casket

Venice, Italy

Date

c. 1595

Medium

Rock crystal, ebony, rosewood, walnut, silver gilt, paint, varnish, and glass

Culture

Venice

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This casket, or chest, was conceived as a piece of heavenly architecture. Its contents can be glimpsed through 184 panels of hand-cut rock crystal (quartz). Two panels on the lid are engraved with the Latin phrase BONAE MATRI—VTERE FELIX [To the good Mother—Use it with luck]. According to tradition, Pope Clement VIII employed this and other similar pieces to present blessed linens to the mothers of first-born male children of European royal families.

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