Chasse (casket)

To the modern eye the form resembles a house, though a tomb or church was more the intention,[1] with an oblong base, straight sides and two sloping top faces meeting at a central ridge, often marked by a raised strip and decoration.

The casket usually stands on straight stumpy feet, and there is a hinged opening to allow access, either one of the panels, but not on the front face, or the wooden bottom; there is usually a lock.

By the 12th century, the Romanesque chasse had become popular as a relatively cheap form for reliquaries, especially for the enamelled caskets made in Limoges and Spain, which were exported all over Europe.

A group from the end of the 12th century with some sixty survivals have enamelled figures and "vermiculated" gilded backgrounds "incised in a pattern of densely interwoven vine scrolls and tendrils".

Limoges had been part of the Plantaganet "Angevin Empire" since 1150, but the city had annoyed the Black Prince by surrendering to the French earlier, and 3,000 of the citizens are said to have been killed in the sack.

[12] Becket's body was carefully preserved, but pieces of his clothes and other possessions were treated as relics, and were deliberately widely distributed by Canterbury to promote his cult from the 1170s until about 1220.

[15] The most elaborate designs usually only appear on the front and sides; the rear faces, usually not visible, are typically more simply decorated with geometric patterns or beasts in roundels rather than figure compositions.