LATE 16TH CENTURY

This casket belongs to a distinctive group of Flemish caskets -- most of almost identical shape -- produced at the end of the 16th century. While the design and number of the gilt-tooled borders vary, they all have nearly identical central panels of hunting scenes or more simple scenes of animals alone. The animals are most prominent and charming elements of the decoration. Almost absurdly oversized, when compared with the hunters, they include hounds, stags, wild boar, hare, butterflies and other insects and birds. The hunters, both human and divine, are portrayed shooting, blowing horns and with nets and ropes.
There are two particularly close examples to the present casket. One is in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich and the second is in another, probably German, collection. A third, similar, example is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.