This very rare coffre de mariage is decorated in corne verte, a technique popular from the late 17th Century through until the third quarter of the 18th Century and most commonly seen on clocks of the period.
The green and red decoration and the elegant brass-inlaid flower-spray ornament are reminiscent of the decoration on Sèvres porcelain of the mid-1750's. A coffre de mariage of this form would have been rare at this date and its use probably confined to the older more traditional nobility.
It is likely that this was originally fitted as a jewel cabinet. Marks on the inside indicate that it held a tray and that there was a hinged flap on the right-hand side which probably provided access to a compartment underneath that tray