17th century Ebony cabinet with mythological decoration

Cabinet composed of two elements, the top opens with two carved and veneered ebony doors. It opens on twelve drawers, decorated with pastoral hunting scenes and flowers.

The central part opens on two ebony veneered doors richly engraved with a stag and a young walker, revealing a theatre in rosewood, ebony, amourette and rosewood veneer. Two period mirrors enlarge the lateral perspective. The chequered floor and the twelve drawers decorated with geometric motifs give the whole theatre a striking effect.

The base is partly of the period.

Dimensions:
Height 192 cm
Width closed 149 cm, open 299 cm
Depth 56 cm
Height of the base 112 cm

The subjects of the doors:

The door on the left represents Athena and the Muses, from Ovid's Metamorphoses: Minerva goes to Mount Helicon to contemplate the Hippocrene spring which Pegasus has brought forth with a blow of his hoof; the nine Muses assembled have just emerged victorious from their joust against the Piérides.

The door on the right represents the Metamorphosis of the Piérides into birds. Indeed, the latter, having challenged the competing Muses, loses a musical contest. Apollo intervenes and turns them into magpies. The most talented of them, Acalanthis, is changed into a goldfinch.

This large Flemish cabinet is typical of Antwerp's production around 1650, as the great merchant bourgeoisie contributed greatly to the development of this exotic wood furniture. The tulip decoration is present everywhere on our furniture. Let's not forget the tulipomania episode that invaded Northern Europe and especially Amsterdam in 1637.