Casket with mythological scenes and animals

This tortoiseshell casket is overlaid on the sides and top with five grisaille enamelled panels with mythological scenes of combat and animals and fantastical figures set in natural landscapes. On the front is a female figure on the knees of a man with a stick – possibly Deïaneira and Hercules – and on the back a battle scene between men armed with clubs and shields, while on the sides there is a bull and a dog taking on a fawn, a stag escaping, and a couple embracing. On the lid is a unicorn and a chimera in a landscape with other animals. The exquisite composition of the scenes and the sophisticated rendering of the enamel on this casket illustrates the finest work of Pierre Reymond, an artist with a long career in Limoges in the sixteenth century.