Coffer with print of The Annunciation

In its day, this leather-covered coffer had straps and was carried as a shoulder bag or traveling case. Once open, it sheds light on an important use of early prints: a fifteenth-century hand-colored woodcut of the Annunciation is pasted inside the cover of the large compartment, transforming this wooden box into a portable altar. There is a second shallow “secret” compartment in the lid, which might have been used to store traveling papers, valuables, or even relics or a consecrated host. Just over a hundred such boxes survive, all dating between 1480 and 1510, all French, and all likely produced in Paris. The Master of the Very Small Hours of Anne of Brittany ran a flourishing workshop in Paris, producing tapestry designs, stained glass, illuminations, and woodcuts.