Box with Metal Mounts

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 454

This box was blown into a mold as one piece and then cut in half. Metal mounts were then applied and fixed with nails. Decorations such as the circular medallions beneath the hinges and the lozenge motifs on the box were formed by the mold and by additional carving. Although similar containers are often referred to as pen boxes, they would have been too small for such use, and their specific function is not known. In Europe, they were often used as reliquaries.

Box with Metal Mounts, Glass, greenish color; mold-blown, wheel-cut decoration, metal mounts

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