A FLEMISH MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND BRASS-INLAID CASKET

Rich Europeans visiting Spa in the late 17th and earl 18th Century seeking cures from the waters helped sustain local craftsmen producing elaborately wrought boxes and caskets made to satisfy the demand for fashionable products in the 'exotic' or chinoiserie taste. In his 1689 pamphlet the physician Edmond Nessel specifically mentions the work done with mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell, pewter and copper inlay, and refers to the 'Boulle' technique used. A related example in the Musée Communal, Spa, is illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, London, 1971, fig. 299.