A casket jewelry box is a container that is usually smaller than a chest, and in the past were typically decorated. Whereas cremation jewelry is a small container, usually in the shape of a pendant or bracelet, to hold a small amount of ashes.

History

In recent times they are mostly receptacles for

trinket A trinket may refer to: * A small showy piece of jewellery, such as a jewel or a ring. * Trinket Island, an island of the Nicobar Islands ** Trinket (village), a village on the island * Trinket snake, common name for ''Elaphe helena'', a species of ...

s and jewels, but in earlier periods, when other types of container were rarer, and the amount of documents held by the typical person far fewer, they were used for keeping important documents and many other purposes. It may take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or it may reach the monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

, one of which is at Windsor, and another at Versailles. Both were the work of Schwerdfeger as cabinet maker, his assistants Michael Reyad, Mitchell Stevens, Christopher Visvis, Degault as miniature painter, and Thomire as chaser. Caskets are often made in precious materials, such as gold, silver or ivory. In ancient East Asia, caskets often made in wood,

china China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, or covered with silk. Some of these caskets could be collected as

decorative boxes A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are u ...

. Some examples have remained unburied from the late Roman Empire. The 4th century

Brescia Casket The Brescia Casket or Lipsanotheca (in Italian ''Lipsanoteca'') is an ivory box, perhaps a reliquary, from the late 4th century, which is now in the Museo di Santa Giulia at San Salvatore in Brescia, Italy. It is a virtually unique survival of ...

, 8th century Franks Casket and 10th-11th century Veroli Casket are all in elaborately carved ivory, a popular material for luxury boxes until recent times. Boxes that contain or contained

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s are known as reliquaries, though not all were originally made for this purpose. The house-shaped chasse is a very common shape for reliquaries in the High Middle Ages, often in Limoges enamel, but some were also secular.

References

External links

Casket: Definition
on TheFreeDictionary. Containers Reliquaries {{furniture-stub