Reliquary-Casket

Turtle shell casket in the shape of an urn with applications of engraved silver with ferronerries and naturalist motifs. The fittings of the back have a geometric stamp which suggests manufacture in the middle of the fifteen hundreds, or an even later period, if we consider that this artistic typology remained for longer in Goa than in Europe. These casket or "turtle boxes" were used to guard jewels and everyday valuables, or in the churches, as ciboria, or to guard saint's relics, such as in this case. Sometimes they preserved the Sacred Host on the Good Friday celebration.
Generally, the fragile structure of this type of piece was supported by beautiful chiselled silver plates thereby giving originality to this small casket in its formal simplicity. The use of silver is reduced to the minimum, limited to the hinges, the tongue and lock, which gives it a modern look. What stands out, in this example, is the perfected technique of soldering of the various turtle shell plates forming homogenous and later polished surfaces. Due to its physical properties, the turtle shell (hard and rigid), once boiled in salt water or simply warmed, can be soft and made flexible, enabling, at this phase, to be smoothed, curved and moulded, which allows the creation of multiple connections. There are numerous caskets of this type conserved in museums, churches and Portuguese private collections, in many cases allowing the confirmation of the era through documental citations which essentially appeared from the second half of the 16th century. According to the documentation we referred to, it is one of the oldest Indian objects exported from India to Portugal. It is referred to in the inventory of relics of 1603 as having been received in the Church of São Roque in Lisbon before 1588, the year of the great donation of D. João de Borja, from which a great majority of the relics of the Ignatian temple came.
Despite being documented in successive old inventories, its origin is unknown. It may have been offered to the Church of São Roque by a Jesuit or a benefactor coming from India, and would have remained in the Chapel of Martyr Saints. Rediscovered in 1842 together with nearly all the relics, it was installed in the Chapel of Martyr Saints alongside the Namban casket.