Neapolitan cabinet dating from the first quarter of the 17th century. On the front it has two doors (originally a single door) giving access to the inner part, where there are three side drawers framing a door concealing a compartment and two small drawers, and a single drawer in the lower part. The sides are made of ebony with ivory threading, while the top is made of ebony wood and decorated with ivory threading; the interior is made of fir. The cabinet is entirely inlaid with engraved ivory reserves. On the inside, a ribbon frieze runs between the drawers, the front of which is decorated with landscapes inhabited by travellers or in which battle scenes take place; the door in the centre depicts a woman with bare breasts and a cornucopia overflowing with flowers and fruit, probably an allegory of Abundance. The doors are also inlaid with ivory reserves with frets and leafy festoons; one depicts a martyred saint with a palm and a column, presumably Saint Bibiana, while the other depicts a female figure holding an anchor, an allegory of Christian hope. Also on the inside of the doors there are ivory reserves engraved with female figures, one unidentifiable and one turreted, raising a ring above her head, probably an allegory of Faith; these two were readapted from a coeval cabinet made by a different workshop, presumably inserted in the 19th century during the transformation of the single door into two doors.
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SILVER Seller in Milano, Italy
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