In the seventeenth century, Spa, a small town southeast of Liège, was not only a fashionable resort for the European elite seeking cures in its salubrious waters, but also a center of trade in exotic objects, which had begun there before 1600. Objects were produced in the fashionable East Asian style and sold as souvenirs to the tourists visiting Spa. During the season, the industry kept about five hundred workers busy, producing objects such as snuffboxes, toilette boxes and other decorative containers. In a pamphlet published in 1689 by Edmond Nessel, he specifically mentions work executed with exotic materials such as lacquer, mother-of-pearl, ivory, and tortoiseshell, in combination with English pewter and silver, and refers to the Boulle technique as well.

Similar caskets include a matched pair sold at Christie's, Paris, 13 June 2017, lot 61, two smaller single boxes sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 14-15 December 2004, lot 532 and Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lot 51, while a related lacquered example featuring flowerheads within intricate strapwork is in the Musée Communal, Spa, is illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, London, 1971, fig. 299.