The attribution of the present rock crystal casket to a Venetian workshop active circa 1600 is based on both traditional provenances and documentary sources from the period. Ten caskets are known to exist, the present example being the eleventh, each of slightly different construction and size. The earliest firm reference to one of these caskets is of an example in the treasury of the Basilica di Santa Barbara in Mantua, where it is recorded in an inventory of 31 October, 1610 (Splendours of the Gonzaga, op.cit.). Other sources, however, do suggest that several examples existed at the time. In a painting of Titian's daughter, painted by a follower of the artist, the young woman is depicted looking at the viewer over her shoulder and holding up a casket which displays the same general construction and use of rock crystal that is evident in the present object (St. Louis,, op.cit., p. 43). Similarly, the historian Francesco Sansovino published a history of Venice in 1581, in which he describes a visit to a jewellers shop where he saw 'a large casket of rock crystal made in such a way that the contents could be seen through the crystal windows' (Lacquer of the West, op.cit., p. 8).
Traditionally, the caskets are said to have been commissioned to house linen, blessed by the Pope and given by him to leading European Catholic families on the birth of a male heir. This practice, intended to strengthen the ties of influential families to the Pope, is a typical gesture of princely renaissance diplomacy. The connection of these caskets to the papal gifts is based primarily on a tradition surrounding a casket presently in the collection of the Duc de Mouchy (Lacquer of the West, op.cit., pp. 8-9). This casket entered the family through marriage with a daughter of the Prince de Beauvau-Craon in the 18th Century, at which point it was described as having once contained the baby linen of Henry IV. It is known from contemporary sources that the Pope presented Queen Marie de Medici, wife of Henry IV, a set of linen on 16 December 1601 upon the birth of the future Louis XIII. It can therefore be assumed that the casket's history was distorted from 'a gift to Henry IV' to 'a gift for Henry IV'.
Considering the early entry of the Basilica Santa Barbara casket into the treasury there, it is unlikely that these caskets were commissioned exclusively by the Pope. However, with its lavish lacquered decoration, its impressive size, and its extensive use of rock crystal, the present casket undoubtedly represents an important commission from the highest level of Italian mannerist society.
A similar casket was sold Sotheby's, The Hever Castle Collection, II, 6th May 1983, lot 287.