A silver casket believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots is drawing the crowds to Kirkcudbright Galleries.
The pure silver object is on display in the upper floor of the galleries as part of a display featuring images of artworks from the Royal Collection Trust, the National Galleries of Scotland, East Ayrshire Council and National Museums Scotland – the last of whom acquired the casket in 2022.
And it is an appropriate setting for the artefact as the galleries are just a few miles from Dundrennan Abbey, where Mary, Queen of Scots spent her last hours on Scottish soil in 1568.
Chair of the council’s education, skills and community wellbeing committee, Councillor Maureen Johnstone, said: “We are thrilled this wonderful object has come to Dumfries and Galloway.
“The region’s connection with this fascinating Queen is a strong one, not least because Mary spent her last night in Scotland at Dundrennan.
“It is exciting to know that the casket now sits just a few miles from that evocative location.”
It is thought the casket was made in Paris between 1493 and 1510 and is a superb and extremely rare work of early French silver.
It is believed to have been given to Mary by her first husband François II of France, and came to Scotland with her in 1561 after his death in 1560. Her inventories from this time list multiple examples of precious jewellery and other such valuable objects.
The casket appears in records following Mary’s arrest by the rebellious Confederate Lords in 1567.
The Scottish Privy Council struck off the lock to reveal its contents.
At that point they were unknown, but when the Earl of Moray produced the same casket at Westminster a year later it contained the Casket Letters.
These love poems and letters, allegedly from Mary to her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, implicated them both in a conspiracy to murder her second husband, Lord Darnley.
They are widely thought to have been doctored.
Mary remained in English captivity for 19 years, being executed in 1587 for her involvement in the Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I, and place Mary on the English throne.
The casket was owned by the family of the Dukes of Hamilton for around three centuries but was acquired for the nation in 2022 for £1.8 million.
Funding came from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, the Scottish Government and several trusts, foundations and individual donors.
The casket can be viewed at Kirkcudbright Galleries until April 27, with the display supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.
Deputy foundation chair, Sophia Weston, said: “One of the key aims of the Weston Loan Programme is to bring world class objects to regional museums where they can be enjoyed by local audiences, so we are delighted to support the display of this fascinating piece of Scottish history in Kirkcudbright.”