232 ON ANCIENT CASKETS OF IVORY AND WOOD. 



probably used for some religious purpose. In Queen Eliza- 

 beth's time they appear to have been appropriated to men^ and 

 solely as repositories for money. Thus, in Shakspeare's play 

 of the Taming of the Shrew, Act II, Gremio, setting forth the 

 splendid manner in which he had furnished his house, says, 

 " in ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns." As Italy had 

 the credit of introducing such caskets to the rest of Europe, 

 Passin, in his additions to Gori's Dyptychs, Vol. HI, declares 

 that he found many of these chests used by noble ladies, for 

 their treasures, in the Xlllth and XlVth centuries, existing 

 in Tuscany and the cities of Picenum, either whole or in 

 fragments. 



Besides those alluded to, some small ivory caskets were 

 manufactured to contain marriage presents to ladies, which 

 were generally ornamented with sculptures bearing reference 

 to that circumstance. On this a French work may be con- 

 sulted, " Sur le petit Bureau Italien/* published in the year 

 1811, 8vo, pp. 54, 55. 



Sir William Compton, in his will, dated 1522, bequeaths to 

 the king a little chest of ivory, whereof one lock is gilt, with a 

 chess-board under the same, and a pair of tables upon it, and 

 all such jewels and treasure as are enclosed therein. This 

 does not appear to have had any ornamental subjects upon it, 

 and, therefore, more nearly resembles a small backgammon 

 board at Goodrich Court, of the time of Charles I., of wood, 

 inlaid with ivory, on the top of which is a chess-board, and 

 underneath a merelle table. But in the second volume of " The 

 Portfolio," published in 1823, is an ivory chess-box engraved 

 and described, of a similar character to that bequeathed by Sir 

 William Compton, then in possession of Mr. Upcott, but now, 

 through Mr. Douce's kindness, in this house, which is said 

 to have belonged to Agnes Sorel, the favorite mistress of 

 Charles VII., King of France. On the lid, which contains 

 the principal subject, is a representation of the Morris, or 

 Moorish dance, and the characters who compose it are, the 

 lady of the May, three morris dancers, the fool, and a piper. 

 The French lady of the May, called Marian the shepherdess, 

 was generally a boy clad in a girl's habit, and this seems 

 pointed out in the present specimen by the leg being so much 

 displayed. The costume fixes the date of this box as of the 

 time of our Henry VI. Four subjects are consecutively 

 represented on the sides of the box. The first is a pastime in 

 which a lover beats the leaves of a tree to be caught in the lap 

 of his mistress, attended by male and female minstrels, the 

 former with a pipe, the latter with a harp and Cauchoise head- 



