Antonio Cortellazzo (1819-1903), son of Pietro and Elisabetta Tomasi, was born in Vicenza on 18 February 1820. There is no precise information about where this goldsmith, who achieved such technical perfection that his works were mistaken for Renaissance masters, trained.

The initials “WS” on the shield held by the two sculpted wyverns on the crest of the casket probably belong to William Spottiswoode (1825-1883), President of the Royal Society, one of Cortellazzo’s clients. The date of manufacture has been deliberately erased, presumably to pass off the casket as a Renaissance object. This was a common practice: unscrupulous antiquarians of the 19th century often passed off works by contemporaries as Renaissance art objects.

Cortellazzo thoroughly studied the technique of inlaying steel items with gold and silver, perfected it and achieved amazing mastery in this complex and labor-intensive technique. For example, it took up to fifteen months to make one bracelet. The excellent quality of Cortellazzo’s work would not have saved him from obscurity, because his works were sold by antique dealers as Renaissance originals. Fortunately, he met the famous collector Sir Henry Austen Layard, an archaeologist and one of the discoverers of Nineveh. Layard convinced him to exhibit under his name.

Cortellazzo’s genius was such that his own works had great success at major international exhibitions, thanks to which he received a number of important orders from English collectors. Cortellazzo’s first documented work is a sword with a scabbard intended for Vittorio Emanuele II, now kept in the Royal Armory of Turin.