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Casket with Beasts in Scrolls

about 1150–75
Object PlaceEngland
Medium/TechniqueChamplevé enamel and gilding on copper
Dimensions6.1 x 10.9 x 6.8 cm (2 3/8 x 4 5/16 x 2 11/16 in.)
Credit LineHelen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession number52.1381
On View
On view
ClassificationsEnamels
Collections
ProvenanceBy 1847, Debruge-Dumenil collection, Paris [see note 1]; 1850, sold at Debruge-Dumeil sale, Paris. By 1861, Peter Soltykoff, Paris; April 8, 1861, sold by Peter Soltykoff at Hotel Drouot, no. 91. By 1868, Mannheim collection, Paris; April 17, 1868, sold at Mannheim sale, Paris, lot 1. By 1905, Jules Frésart, Liège; by 1905 and until at least 1930, Mme. Jules Frésart [see note 2]. By 1952, Galerie les Tourettes, Bale, Switzerland [see note 3]; 1952, sold by Galerie les Tourettes, through Otto Wertheimer, Paris, and bought by the MFA for $4200 through the Helen and Alice Colburn Fund. (Accession date: October 9, 1952)

NOTES:
[1] Jules Labarte, "Description des objects d'art qui composent la collection Debruge Dumenil," 1847, p. 581, no. 680. [2] In 1905, the casket was exhibited in Liège, by Mme. Fresart, "Exposition de l'art Ancien au Pays de Liège," no. 279, pl. 14. In 1930, the casket was again exhibited by Mme. Goffart-Frésart, "Catalogue de l'Exposition de l'Art de l'Ancien Pays de Liège et des anciens Arts wallons," 1930, no. 179. [3] At the time of acquisition in 1952, Georg Swarzenski noted, in MFA curatorial file, that this casket was never on the market from the time it was in the Frésart collection until it was bought by the MFA.
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