Reliquary casket
PLACE/DATE
Japan, Momoyama period (1573-1615), late 16th / early 17th century
MATERIALS
Lacquered wood, gold and silver dust, mother of pearl inlays and gilt copper
DIMENSIONS
15,2 x 23 x 13,2 cm
INV
RL.272
One of the influences of Portuguese art on the art of Japan results from the domed shape of the lids of the caskets and chests made there, especially between the mid-16th century and the first decades of the 17th century.
This was a characteristic choice for travel chests, so that they could catch water without it settling on the surface. The survival of a considerable number of these Nanban caskets in Portugal was due to their reuse in Christian worship as reliquaries or urns for the Blessed Sacrament. This could be the case of this one, referenced in the inventory of 1695, but perhaps corresponding to the "mother-of-pearl vault" recorded at the altar of the Holy Martyrs of the Church of São Roque in 1588.
