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This cabinet made of ebony and silver consists of a broad protruding base, a narrower structure, and – on top of that – a richly decorated  case. It’s a really strange combination, and it doesn’t have any practical purpose! Many of the little drawers don’t even open. It’s simply a luxurious piece of furniture, expressly created for the Kunstkammer.

It’s the work of the Dresden goldsmith, Hans Kellerthaler, and is one of the oldest, large Kunstkammer cabinets in Germany. It seems that its eccentric construction was never imitated. The decoration follows a complicated pictorial plan based on the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon.  The Jewish prophet Daniel interpreted that dream as a premonition of the destruction of the world’s four great empires...and the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom.

Starting at the top of the case, you see silver statues of the kings of the four ancient empires, arranged chronologically.  There’s Assyria and Persia, Greece and Rome. Then you see eight virtues, and reliefs with personifications of the four corners of the earth. Coming to the plinth-like base, you’ll recognise – among other things – the four seasons, then figures representing the four main metals – gold, silver, copper and iron – , and finally the four empires, with their main rivers. Saxony wasn’t exactly lacking in self-confidence: one of those rivers is the Elb which flows through Dresden! Originally, this pictorial programme was crowned by a group of silver figures. Unfortunately, they disappeared during the Second World War.