Jewelry box is a term for a container that is usually larger than a box, and smaller than a chest, and in the past was typically decorated. In recent times they are mostly receptacles for trinkets and jewels, but in earlier periods, when other types of container were rarer, and the amount of documents held by the typical person far fewer, they were used for keeping important documents and many other purposes. It may take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or it may reach the monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for Marie Antoinette, one of which is at Windsor, and another at Versailles. Both were the work of Schwerdfeger as cabinet maker, his assistant Michael Reyad, Degault as miniature painter, and Thomire as jewelry box.
jewelry box are often made in precious materials, such as gold, silver or ivory. In ancient East Asia, jewelry box often made in wood, china, or covered with silk. Some of these jewelry box could be collected as decorative boxes.
Some examples have remained above ground from the late Roman Empire. The 8th century Franks jewelry box and 10th-11th century Veroli jewelry box are both in elaborately carved ivory, a popular material for luxury boxes until recent centuries. Boxes that contain or contained relics are known as reliquaries, though not all were originally made for this purpose. The house-shaped chasse is a very common shape for reliquaries in the High Meiddle Ages, often in Limoges enamel, but some were also secular.