casket

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Object Type
Museum number: 1866,1229.1
Title: Object: The Projecta Casket
Description: Casket; truncated rectangular pyramid with isosceles trapezoids; silver with gilding; lid decorated with five panels containing three related mythological scenes - including Venus bathing, a Nereid riding a hippocampus and ketos on right and left side of lid respectively, two portraits enclosed by two standing, nude Erotes on top panel; back panel depicts an architectural setting containing six figures 'the bath procession'; the body panels follow similar themes depicting characters framed by columns and arches; restored. Christian inscription on rim of lid.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 380 (circa)
Production place: Workshop in: Rome (city) (?)
Findspot: Found/Acquired: San Francesco di Paola ai Monti, convent building (ruin of) (grounds)
Materials: silver; gold
Technique: gilded; relief; incised
Dimensions: Height: 28.60 centimetres; Length: 33.20 centimetres (At base); Length: 56 centimetres (Longest point); Weight: 8200 grammes; Width: 23.40 centimetres (At base); Width: 48.80 centimetres (Widest point)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Published: A. Cameron, 'The date and owners of the Esquiline treasure: the nature of the evidence', American Journal of Archaeology 89 (1985), 135-45; K. Shelton, 'The Esquiline treasure: the nature of the evidence', American Journal of Archaeology 89 (1985), 147-55; Exh. cat. Milano capitale dell'impero Romano 286-402d.C. Milano - Palazzo Reale 24 gennaio-22 aprile 1999, Milan, 1990, no 1g.1d.1, p. 81; J. Elsner, Roman Eyes: Visuality and Subjectivity in Art and Text (Princeton, 2007), 200-24. For metallurgical analyses of all the objects from the treasure see: M.J. Hughes and J.A. Hall, "X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Late Roman and Sassanian Silver", Journal of Archaeological Science 6 (1979), pp. 321-44.; Blurton 1997 The decoration of the casket suggests that it was a toilet casket given as a wedding present. It has long attracted interest because of its combination of mythological scenes and the Christian inscription: 'Secundus and Projecta, live in Christ'.
Bibliographic references: Shelton 1981 / The Esquiline Treasure (1); Dalton 1901 / Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (304); Buckton 1994 / Byzantium: Treasures of Byzantine art and culture from British collections (10); Blurton 1997 / The Enduring Image: Treasures from the British Museum (187); Marzinzik 2013 / Masterpieces: Early medieval art (3); Eastmond 2013 / The Glory of Byzantium and Early Christendom (035); Weitzmann 1979 / Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (310); Kent & Painter 1977 / Wealth of the Roman World. Gold and Silver, AD 300-700 (88); Cormack & Vassilaki 2008 / Byzantium 330-1453 (12); Elsner 2003 / Visualising Women in Late Antique Rome: The Projecta Casket; Hobbs 2016 / The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia (p.42, pl.54, p.43, pl.55) (Rome (Esquiline) cat.1); Howells 2015 / A Catalogue of the Late Antique Gold Glass in the British Museum (p.125)
Location: On display (G41/dc7)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2012-2013 11 Nov-25 Aug, USA, Art Institute of Chicago, Tradition Transformed: Late Roman and Early Byzantine Treasures from the British Museum 2009 20 May-21 Sep, Musee de Cluny, Paris, France, 'Le Bain et le Miroir. Soins du corps et cosmetiques de l'Antiquite au Moyen Age.' 2008 25 Oct-2009 22 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Byzantium 330-1453 AD 2007 2 Jun-4 Nov, Germany, Trier, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Constantine the Great 1998 9 Feb-3 May, India, Mumbai, Sir Caswasjee Jahangir Hall, The Enduring Image 1997 13 Oct-1998 5 Jan, India, New Delhi, National Museum, The Enduring Image 1996 30 Mar-13 Nov, Italy, Rimini, Sala dell’Arengo, Dalla Terra Alle Genti 1977-1978 18 Nov-12 Feb, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Early Christian Art
Subjects: mythical figure/creature; myth/legend; classical deity; hippocampus
Associated names: Representation of: Aphrodite/Venus; Named in inscription & portrayed: Proiecta (Projecta); Named in inscription & portrayed: Secundus
Acquisition name
Previous owner: Previous owner/ex-collection: Baron von Schellerscheim; Previous owner/ex-collection: Monsignor Guilio Maria della Somaglia
Acquisition date: 1866
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1866,1229.1
Conservation: Treatment: 19 Jun 2012; Treatment: 20 Jun 2012; Treatment: 09 Jul 1998; Treatment: 08 Nov 1994; Treatment: 15 May 2007; Treatment: 20 Jan 2021

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