Casket

This casket is made from amber - a form of fossilised tree resin. The amber for this casket came from the Baltic Sea and it was made in Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, the former capital of Prussia, which was the leading centre for amber carving in the 17th century and the home of a lucrative trade in luxury objects designed to be worn or displayed in princely collections.

With three small drawers in the base tier, the casket could have housed precious items like jewels, as well as being an amazing spectacle in itself. Each of the three boxes stacked above opens, allowing light to shine through and illuminate carvings inside the lids and bases. No expense has been spared: it is decorated on every surface with different types of amber, and with figures carved in ivory to imitate marble sculpture, showcasing the wonders of nature and art.

Earliest Rothschild collector: Alice de Rothschild; b.1847, d.1922

Kaliningrad, Russia

Credit: Gift of Dorothy de Rothschild, 1971