Ebony Cabinet with Thirteen Painting of Classical Subjects (work of art)

About

Kunstcabinets, which evolved from unadorned wooden chests during the sixteenth century, were especially popular in seventeenth-century Antwerp. Embellished with paintings and other decorative motifs, such cabinets also contained drawers and compartments for storing precious objects. The thirteen paintings on copper adorning this example are attributed to the Antwerp painter Simon Floquet. The largest panels represent Apollo and the Muses (on the top lid), An Apulian shepherd transformed into a wild olive tree by the Nymphs (on the left door), and the Judgement of Midas (on the right door). Clockwise from the lower left are small images of Venus and Adonis, Jupiter and Io, The Daughter of Coroneus Changed into a Crow, Meleanger and Atalanta, Apollo and Daphne, Pluto kidnapping Proserpine, Pan and Syrinx, Pyramus and Thisbe, and the Rape of Europa. The scene on the central interior door shows the Triumph of Cupid.