Bridal Casket with Scenes from the Life of Paris

Description The workshop of the Embriachi family in Venice produced a variety of luxury objects decorated with carved plaques of bone and inlays of stained wood, bone, and horn. The scenes are taken from classical literature. Depicted here are incidents from the life of the Trojan prince Paris: his childhood is combined with the more familiar stories of Paris' judgment of the goddesses Juno, Venus, and Minerva and his abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta, the incident which caused the Trojan war. Such caskets were often given to a lady upon marriage to hold her bridal jewels. The empty shields on the lid would have been painted with the coats of arms of the woman and her husband. They may have worn off over time.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
2/17/1938	Treatment	repaired; cleaned
10/01/1945	Treatment	cleaned
1/08/1960	Treatment	cleaned
8/21/1979	Examination	examined for condition
8/21/1979	Treatment	repaired; cleaned
6/10/1982	Treatment	other
6/10/1982	Technical Report	examined for technical study
9/30/1983	Treatment	cleaned
2/22/2011	Treatment	examined for condition; cleaned

Exhibitions

• Window Display at Enoch Pratt Library. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore. 1979.

Provenance F. Ongania, Venice [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters