Currently only eight other complete secular ivory coffrets like the present one are known, so-called composite caskets, most of them in important museum collections around the world. The present example likely originated in a workshop in Paris around 1330, due to the similarities with the existing ones. The exact meaning behind the iconological programs of these caskets has long been a subject for discussion between scholars.
Join Head of Sale, Douglas Girton as he discusses this important work of art, looking at the iconography and history behind this rare Gothic casket.