Rare 1500s parallelepiped casket of undulating ribbed cover, fully constructed with golden, translucent and mottled turtle shell plaques, after one of the rarest European casket typologies copied by Gujarati artisans in this autochthonous raw material.Its prototype would have been a 15th century French cuir bouilli original (tooled leather coated wood) now at the Cluny Museum – Middle Ages National Museum, in Paris (inv. NNI 952). Similarly to other caskets destined for the safekeeping of small, but highly valuable illuminated Books of Hours, this Paris casket features a lock in one of its shorter sides, a detail unknown in extant Gujarati examples . In addition, its usual system of reinforcing iron bands was, in this instance, enhanced by the tripartite cover profile.Quite remarkable are our casket’s probably Goan made silver fittings, of which the most striking and unique aspect is undoubtedly their Persian Timurid inspired decoration of waved friezes covering whole surfaces, including the scalloped corner pieces and lateral panels. This repousse decoration was achieved in an expeditious manner by using metal, possibly bronze or iron, matrices, a standard procedure in Indian goldsmithing and jewellery making. These silver fittings are attached to the turtle shell carcass by large round headed silver tacks, or star headed pins, also made in a matrix. The square cased lock and its characteristic lizard shaped latch feature repousse and chiselled waved decoration. Additional silver elements include cast and finely chiselled side and top handles of lizard or snake finials (snake heads swallowing lizards). The fittings Timurid character is also evident in the palm shaped matrix made rear hinges.Originally used as a jewellery box, this rare and precious casket was likely adapted for religious use. For this repurposing its inner surface was lined in a thin hammered silver sheet. In addition, a Greek cross of scallop shell finials and a central armorial shield, identified as the medieval heraldic for the Kingdom of Majorca, were also added, albeit surmounted by a count’s coronet. Rather incongruous and of revivalist flavour, this heraldic is likely to date from the 19th century .The silver mounts are assay marked “Elder’s Head”, a stamp used in Portugal from 1886 onwards on objects of artistic or archaeological worth.One of the earliest documental references to a specific turtle shell casket, is one that refers to a now lost example in the 1556 post mortem inventory for the court bailiff Afonso de Castelo Branco: “hũu quoffre de tartaruga guarnjcido de prata vall - dois mil reais” (a turtle shell casket mounted in silver worth two thousand reals).