Casket (late 1300s): Art, History and Details

Casket (late 1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This casket is one of only a few of its kind to survive in such a fine state of preservation. A variety of such caskets were used in wealthy homes to store jewelry, seals, mirrors, and combs. A keyhole lock is provided for security. Caskets like this were often highly decorated and given to women as gifts.

Object facts

• Title: Casket
• Date: late 1300s
• Culture: Italy, Siena(?)
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: painted and gilded gesso on wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 23.2 x 41.3 x 18.3 cm (9 1/8 x 16 1/4 x 7 3/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1954.600

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.