Small Casket with the Judgement of Paris

This casket, which would have been used to hold valuable trinkets and may have been intended as a sentimental gift, is decorated with amorous scenes from Classical mythology. On the front left, Actaeon is transformed into a stag as he watches Diana--goddess of the moon and the hunt--at her bath, while on the right, Thisbe mourns over the body of Pyramus. The casket's right side depicts two merchant ships with a city, perhaps Troy, in the background, and its left side portrays Jupiter disguised as a bull, kidnapping Europa. On the reverse, Prince Paris of Troy judges who is the most beautiful among the goddesses Minerva, Juno, and Venus, and Orpheus tames wild beasts with his music.
This casket was made by a workshop known to art historians as that of the "Roman Triumphs" one of seven Venetian workshops that produced these caskets between the years 1503 and 1533. For more information on the production of the casket's white lead pastiglia decorations, see 65.16.

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.

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