Small Renaissance Period Cabinet With 10 Allegories

Small Bellifontain cabinet, in walnut, from the second half of the 16th century. It opens on the front with four doors and a drawer, fitted with 3 interior shelves. The lower body rests on turned feet in flattened balls topped with a large molding. It opens with 2 molded and sculpted doors framed by uprights decorated with medallions in low relief with motifs of winged sphinxes representing Oedipus and swans for Zeus or Apollo, separated by shelves in Campan marble. The doors are topped with a drawer sculpted in its center, with a winged angel's head in high relief, inlaid on either side, with shelves in black Saint Laurent marble, as well as under the capitals sculpted with stylized acanthus leaves. The upper body, with its Doric temple-shaped architecture, framed by thin columns, opens with 2 molded and sculpted doors, topped with a broken pediment decorated with sculpted plants and a niche housing a polychrome alabaster sculpture in the round. We will find no less than 10 allegories represented on the cabinet. The bas-relief sculpted on the lower left door evokes VIRTUE, through the presence of the olive branch, an owl, the feathered helmet or Minerva and finally the wide cape on the shoulders. As a pendant, on the right door, the woman leans on a trunk, her hand pointing towards the ground and the presence of a goose signifies WISDOM. On the upper doors, we find the four elements represented as follows: AIR at the top left, FIRE at the top right, EARTH at the bottom left and WATER at the bottom right. The central medallion on the left represents PEACE through the olive branch, the military attributes and the flame carried on the ground. On the right one, JUSTICE is shown to us by the sword and the scales. The upper crosspiece is carved with representations of "Leda and the Swan" to symbolize UNION. The sculpture of the central medallion was erased, probably during the French Revolution. In the niche, the sculpture suggests TEMPERANCE through the mirror held by the right arm and the presence of a goose at the feet of the character. This cabinet represents a stereotype of the genre, from the production of the workshops of Fontainebleau, under Italian influences.