they gleamed upon things he had never found before , lying stacked amongst the ruins : polished tables , pier glasses , furnishings ; here , a great sea-bass perused the music stood upon a gilt harpsichord ; here , two starfish manoeuvred around a marble chess-board , set against a bust of nero at a jaunty angle ; and here a troupe of eels danced minuets on the lid of a japan-lacquer cabinet .