Silver Gilt Filigree Casket Trinket Box

The casket is made up of lace-like openwork gold gilt silver filigree work, composed of foliate motifs and small swirl patterns.

The term 'filigree' comes from the Latin filum (thread) and granum (grain), indicating the technique of using fine silver thread and small grains to make objects. The filigree technique existed in ancient cultures from the second millennium BC,[1] and was used in almost all European and Asian countries in the 16th and 17th centuries. Filigree produced from the 17th to the early 19th century was almost never given a mark, and Menshikova has commented [2] "the question of who made it cannot be answered: was it Chinese silversmiths working in the colonies in Southeast Asia or in India, or masters in, for instance, Batavia (now Jakarta)."[3] The combination of wide, flattened wire components with fine twisted filigree work is found on articles often ascribed to Goa during the second half of the 17th century. Menshikova carefully refers to filigree items of this