Projecta Casket
Type:
Caskets
Date:
ca. 380
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Medium:
Gilt-silver
Dimensions:
28.6 × 56 × 48.8 cm
Description:
The Projecta Casket is a gilt-silver repoussé bridal casket found as part of the Esquiline Treasure, a hoard of late fourth-century silver objects uncovered at the foot of Rome's Esquiline Hill. The casket was most likely a wedding gift for the couple depicted in a wreath on the lid and named in the Latin lid inscription: "Secundus and Projecta, live in Christ" (SECVNDE ET PROIECTA VIVATIS IN CHRISTO). Although this makes clear that they were a Christian couple (or that at least one was Christian), the decorative program includes pagan imagery. The lid, for example, shows Venus on a cockleshell and nereids (sea nymphs) riding mythological sea creatures (a ketos and a hippocamp). The lid may have been customized to go with an existing base, although neither the craftsmen nor the couple would have found the mixing of Christian and Pagan motifs unusual.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
2
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the Projecta Casket on the website of the British Museum.
Image Credits:
Brad Hostetler, © Trustees of the British Museum
