Milanese workshop, Passalacqua Cabinet

Milanese workshop, Passalacqua Cabinet, wood, ivory, gilded bronze, silver, rock crystal, semi-precious stones, oil on copper, 1613 (inv. n. Mobili 513)

The extraordinary work is a call by the customer Quintino Lucini Passalacqua, Canon of the Como Cathedral, to meditate on the moral reflection that "when reason is guided by the senses things do not end well." This is developed across the top of the cabinet, which when opened reveals: precious ivory statuettes of the five senses, sculpted by Guillaume Berthelot; the paintings of biblical scenes by Morazzone and, above all, the small bronze at the center showing reason dragged away five wild animals. An allusion to the danger posed by the prevalence of the senses.