Beautiful reliquary casket in silver and gilded silver filigree.Rectangular in shape, with a trapezoidal lid, the four Doric columnsenrich its edges. The entire body is filled with foliate and scrollsinserted on textured lace-like cartouches, surrounded by cords.In the centre of each cartouche stands a flower, whose corolla isformed by a small, gilt silver square. The clasp, a single piece rosette-shaped, has a spring-loaded opening system. The cofferedlid repeats the same decorative pattern as the body of the casket,with its edges highlighted by strings of pearls. It has a rope-threadhandle on each side, adorned with a gilded corolla in the centre.It rests on four spherical feet formed by two curved corollae. Theinterior is in gilded silver decorated with lozenge motifs executedin a combination of matte and polished finishes.Designed to resemble a Renaissance building, a tempietto,it features a small foundation or pedestal on which the pilastersare placed. This is a fine example of miniaturized architecture, conceivedwith the help of a ruler and a set square, and constructed from delicate panels of rope filigree (wire design) set on a squarewire frame.The object is attributed to the eighteenth-century and bearsa Dutch import mark, a feature that supports the hypothesis of itsproduction within a Dutch colonial context. Silver filigree worksof this type are thought to have been produced either by Chinesesilversmiths active in colonial centres in Southeast Asia or India, orby master craftsmen working in Batavia (present-day Jakarta). Suchobjects were subsequently traded to Europe through the Dutch EastIndia Company (VOC).1 A closely related casket of the same type,incorporating Doric columns, may be found in the KunstkammerMuseum in Vienna (inv. no. 999; Exotica catalogue no. 106).
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