794 - A FLEMISH GILT METAL MOUNTED; EBONIZED; POLYCHROME PAINTED; SILVERED AND BONE PARQUETRY CABINET ON STAND

A FLEMISH GILT METAL MOUNTED; EBONIZED; POLYCHROME PAINTED; SILVERED AND BONE PARQUETRY CABINET ON STAND Antwerp, 17th century - the stand later 155 x 106 x 46 cm The riple moulded rectancgular top with hinged lid enclosing a red velvet lined interior, the inner lid painted with a Mytholognical scene depicting The Judgement of Midas above a central cupboard door, painted with the scene Mercury spots Herse; flanked by circular columns, enclosing a fitted interior with simiulated mirrored arcades and a checker parquetry floor, two handles to the sides. Surrounded by 10 variously sized drawers on a later stand with two drawers supported by four spirally turned legs and a x-shaped stretcher. The panels are all intricately painted with mythological scenes, including Europa riding the bull, Apollo and Daphne, Hercules and Deianira, Pyramus and Thisbe, and Vertumnus and Pomona. Restorations, additions, minor losses. The Mythological paintings after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Private collection Rhineland In the 17th century Antwerp was the leading European centre for elaborately painted cabinets, a production encouraged by Philip II of Spain`s 1603 ban on the import of Nuremberg cabinets. The richly painted interiors show that they were display pieces and used to show the owner´s collections of jewellery, silver, minerals, shells and other specimen, in one piece the classical Kunstkammer collection. A related cabinet on stand, the paintings attributed to Hendrick Van Balen (1573-1632) was sold Sotheby`s, London, 25 May 2001, lot 36 (58.000 pound incl prem.)