Jewelry Box

This magnificent jewelry box is distinguished by its architectonically articulated structure with reliefs of the Passion of Christ and is crowned by a figural sculpture group of the Resurrection. Several examples of this type have still survived (Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, among others). A drawing in the treasury book of the Jesuit Church of Saint Michael in Munich documents that there was once another example there. The group may have been commissioned by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria as an intended gift. The use of largely base metals distinguishes these boxes from more expensive secular examples, but they are by no means inferior to them in terms of artistic quality and extensive pictorial program.