In the museums collection, the work will stand in dialogue with other contemporary artworks, both classic cabinets and furniture, where one could connect the dots to Bjørn Båsens references in this work, and his artistry as a whole.

The work is made in the Memento Mori tradition, and is visually inspired by both flemish alterpieces and painted cabinets from the 1500 and 1600´s. The writings on the inside of the doors is retrieved from Charles Baudelaires poem "Eit åtsel" / Une charogne from the poem collection Fleurs du mal (1857), about a young couple who encountered a rotting cadaver, illustrating the fragile lines between life and death.

Bjørn Båsen cabinets and sculptures are often less telling than his paintings, and this work allows for multiple interpretations. When closed, the cabinet is portrayed as a porselain cube in blue decor, resting on animal shaped feet in copper. The decoration is a adaptation of an 17th century Meissen - pattern. The piece plays with the art historic tradition through references to porcelain, trompe - l´oeil through painted cracks in thr sculpture´s surface and the use of animals feet in furniture; European throne chairs were often adorned with lions feet to emphasize the monarch´s position in accordance to how a lion is the king of the animals. When the cabinet opens, the porselain cube is tranformed into an alter, where a copper canapy with turned pillars surrounds a miniatyr scull.

The work has previously been shown in 2022 at Nitja Centre for Contemporary art, under the exhibition Mythos.

Instead of gold leaf, Bjørn Båsen has chosen copper leaf to give the sculpture a more toned down and melancholic expression. The woodwork is local pine wood from Eggedal, Norway.

The work has previously been exhibited as another variant, under the title "De sade cabinet" in the exhibition Ghosts at The National association of Norwegian painters in 2020.

Bjørn Båsen (b. 1981, Eggedal, Norway) has a BA from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth and an MA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

Båsen’s works invite the spectator into a whole new world. His skillful perspectives make one feel as though you could take a leap and fall into his illusion of a blissful wonderland. However, in his world of porcelain puzzles, cracks are always present and propped with references to deep and often dark matters. Båsen’s oeuvre is filled with references to mythology, past and present decadence – the fairytales of former glory meet the realism of today.

His work is included in the collection of the National Museum of Norway, the Astrup Fearnley Museum, KODE Art Museum, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, The Grieg Art Collection, Equinor Art Programme, oslo Kommune Art Collection, Stavanger Kommune Art Collection, DNB as well as numerous private collections nationally and abroad.