THE ANTWERP OFFICE WITH THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID entirely veneered in ebony and tortoiseshell in guilloché frames. It opens into an upper recess with a flap revealing a mirror and storage space for documents. The front opens to two leaves revealing an interior richly decorated interior with ten drawers painted panels and two secrets. The central leaf opens onto a luxurious little theatre with mirrors theatre with mirrors and nine gilded half-columns on a chequered floor. All the painted panels are attributed to the brothers Cornelis and Jean- Baptiste Huysmans described below. Antwerp, late 17th century. Total height: 88 cm - Width: 107.5 cm Depth: 44 cm (Minor accidents, restorations and missing pieces) On an adapted base in the taste of the later period. Total height: 168 cm Description of the scenes depicted The central scene on the closing door shows the abduction of Ganymede from Olympus Olympus by Zeus in the form of an eagle. On the the front of the drawer below, the representation of Byblis can be seen. of Byblis. Unhappily in love with and rejected by her brother, she is transformed into a into a spring through the tears she sheds. Left-hand drawers (top to bottom) : 1. Representation of Cupid, who brings together Venus and Adonis. 2. After the hunt, Adonis is wounded and Venus despairs at his side. According to the legend she turns his blood into Adonis' rose. 3. Cupid tenderly embraces Venus. 4. Myrrha is disguised as a concubine to seduce seduce her father, King Kinyras. Right-hand drawers (top to bottom) : 1. Atalanta and Hippomenes are engaged in a contest which ends with Hippomenes' victory. They enter into matrimony. 2. Apollo mourns the death of his lover Hyakinthos. Apollo has accidentally struck Hyakinthos with his discus, bringing their love their love prematurely. 3. Cyparissus mistakenly killed the deer he loved he loved so much. According to the legend, he finally turns, out of grief and sadness, into a cypress tree (depending on the source, it may also be a weeping weeping willow). 4. The sculptor Pygmalion creates a sculpture. Dazzled by the beauty of the female sculpture he has created, he ends up falling in love with her. V177