Casket
WB.219
Panels: 1600–1625, later mounts •
Glass, metal foils, ebony frame •
casket
Curator's Description
Casket; ebony; set with seven glass panels ornamented at back with convivial parties and pairs of lovers in gold, silver and coloured foil; convex top and sides; lid with card party; back with musical party outdoors; two square panels on bottom with parrots and flowers on gold ground backed with coloured foils.
This object was collected by Anselm von Rothschild and bequeathed to the British Museum by Ferdinand Anselm Rothschild.
How big is it?
10.4 cm wide, 8 cm high, 6.8 cm deep, and it weighs 194g
Detailed Curatorial Notes
Provenance: Baron Anselm von Rothschild, Vienna, by 1866 (cat no. 400).
Commentary: A box with other glass painted plates but near identical wooden mounts, but including a handle, is in Prague Castle, inv. no. 2073. There is another in BNMunich, inv.13/1410 with figures of 8 virtues, and one with flat sides but comparable mounts in Ryser collection in Romont Museum of Glass in Switzerland, Inv.M 49. Two more are in Prague, inv.no.10.535 and 3172, 1-8. All are illustrated in Ryser and Salmen 1995 as below, but no mention of WB example. The comparisons indicate that the wooden framing is original but that the handle is mow missing; its form can be easily deduced from the three illustrated in this catalogue. the dining scene matches that on the Prague casket 3172, 1-8.The panels inset in the base of WB.219 are close to those on a tric trac board in Berlin and on a cabinet in the Ryser collection inv.M47 in Romont.
Bibliography
- Charles Hercules Read, 'The Waddesdon Bequest: Catalogue of the Works of Art bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, M.P., 1898', London, 1902, no. 216
- O.M. Dalton, 'The Waddesdon Bequest', 2nd edn (rev), British Museum, London, 1927, no.216
- F.Ryser and B. Salmen, Amalierte Stuck ugg Glas/Hinder Glas gemalte Historien und Gemald, Murnau 1995, cats.5-8
- Read 1902: Read, Charles Hercules, The Waddesdon Bequest. Catalogue of the Works of Art Bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, M.P., 1898, London, BMP, 1902
- Dalton 1927: Dalton, Ormonde Maddock, The Waddesdon Bequest : jewels, plate, and other works of art bequeathed by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild., London, BMP, 1927