The coffer is a key item in any study of French silverware and European collecting. Initially part of Cardinal Mazarin’s collection, on his death it was sold at auction, subsequently being acquired by the Grand Dauphin. The gold crafting links this piece to a group of works associated with the so-called Maestro of Dragons, Pierre Delabarre, a Parisian silversmith who qualified as a master craftsman in 1625. The entire surface of the eight faces is richly decorated by a band of enamelled gold, with a design of pointed leaves, interwoven and concave, from which smaller leaves emerge with threaded beads. The enamels are highly varied in colour, ranging from white to black through blues, lilac, ochre and various shades of green. Scattered among the floral motifs are 152 engravings and cameos inlaid in ovals with enamelled garlands.

The coffer has 152 cameos and engravings, whose arrangement probably follows a programme with political intentions. The cameos are mainly 16^th century Italian, whereas virtually all the engravings are older. Apart from series lacking any particular significance – scenes of lovers, fauns and minor figures – and the usual male and female heads deriving from various sources, there are depictions of the major classical deities, such as Jupiter on Olympus, Minerva, Apollo with his lyre and Helios, the sun god. Apollo and Marsyas feature frequently, and also appear on the inside of the coffer. Diana the huntress, like the references to Bacchus, conjures up the world of forests and wine. Love and beauty are also present in the engraving of a dolphin, the symbol of loyal friendship unto death, and the motto: Amoris Habes Pignus; Love and Psyche, Cupid; Venus listening to complaints about Cupid; the Three Graces and Mars. These contrast with scenes from the underworld: Vulcan working at his forge, Pluto with Cybele and Proserpina. There are also heroes such as Hercules, depicted twice, possibly in reference to the Gallic Hercules, and a third with the Nemean lion. Alexander appears, deified, and David, the hero of Judeo-Christian tradition, vanquishing a more powerful enemy. Scipio Africanus and Charles V in the Tunisia expedition allude to military victories. Lucretia, Castor and Pollux, and Asclepius are among the other figures associated with human behaviour. Spirits of the theatre, winged spirits in various poses, representations of rivers such as the Tiber, and symbolic animals: references to the fables of the eagle and the tortoise, the stork and the lizard, etc. At the sides, two horizontal carnelian cameos showing a reclining woman and man, the latter with a cornucopia. Possibly belonging to the Christian tradition are three veiled women, perhaps the three Marys, as well as a group of three identical bearded faces, a possible representation of the Trinity, common at the end of the 15^th century and later considered heretical.

The state of the work in the 19th century can be seen through the photography of Juan Laurent y Minier, "Vase agate sardoine, montures d’or avec émaux et pierreries, XVIe siècle, règne de Henri II", c. 1879, Museo del Prado, HF0835/16 (L. Arbeteta, in press).