This gilded casket was made in France in around ad 1200 and shows a scene from the New Testament on the front of the casket depicting the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem and their Adoration of the infant Jesus. The sides each have the image of an unidentified saint while the back is decorated with squares containing tloral motifs.

The casket may have been made as a reliquary to contain relics from the shrine of the Magi at Cologne, Germany, which was an important pilgrimage site in medieval Europe. 1’he casket is made of a wooden core decorated with champleve- enamelled copper sheets. Champleve enamelling is a technique that uses individual cells cut into the metal base to build up a design. Each cell is then filled with enamel. Examples of this technique dating from the late twelfth to early fourteenth century are known as Limoges enamels, after the town in south-west France which became an early centre for fine enamel work.



From Limoges, France, c. AD 1200
Ht 18.5 cm
Bernal Collection