Casket with the Story of the Prodigal Son

The coats of arms on the lid of this casket indicate that it was a gift to Viktor von Seyboltsdorf zu Schenkenau (1536-1585), governor of Schrobenhausen, at his wedding to Corona von Gumppenberg on February 4, 1560. He was in the service of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528-1579), and his wife was a lady-in-waiting to the duchess. The parable of the prodigal son, which tells the story of the repentant son who reunites with his father after carelessly spending his inheritance, was perhaps chosen to remind the nobleman that it was time to abandon idle leisure for the duties of married life.

The narrative panels, executed in glass and gilded and painted on their reverse in the amalierung technique, provide the chief ornament of the casket. These plaques are complemented by graceful decorative borders of little birds entwined in foliage, which are, in turn, reflected in the incised gilded-metal armature of the casket itself.

The first step of the amalierung technique, used to decorate the top and sides of this casket, involved the application of a layer of gold leaf onto the rock crystal. Next, the negative space of the composition would be scratched away with a stylus to create the outlines of the classical portrait busts and the filigree decoration. Then, the artist would paint the image with translucent, colored resins. This technique required the reversal of a painter’s usual practice, as highlights in the foreground needed to be added before figures and the background, requiring the artist to keep the finished image in their mind while applying each layer. Finally, a sheet of reflective silver foil was added to the back of the composition. Light is refracted through the rock crystal, passes through the translucent resins, and reflects off the backing, giving the image a luminous quality.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Viktor von Seyboltsdorf zu Schenkenau, 1560, by gift. Raoul Heilbronner, Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, by 1931, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest