Badminton Cabinet
The Badminton Cabinet is a baroque cabinet that was manufactured in the Pietra Dura workshops of the Medici in Florence for the Duke of Beaufort in England in the 18th century . It is one of the most famous pieces of furniture and is currently the most expensive piece of furniture in the world. The cabinet is exhibited in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna .
The cabinet is almost 4 m high, 2.3 m wide and is made of ebony with gold-plated bronze . The images in the inlay, which depict birds and flowers, contain lapis lazuli , red and green Sicilian jasper , amethyst, and quartz . Above the cabinet is crowned with figures, a clock and a coat of arms.
The third Duke of Beaufort, Henry Somerset, commissioned the lavish piece of furniture on a trip to Italy in 1726; It was completed in 1732. It was owned by the ducal family until 1990 before it was sold to Barbara Piasecka Johnson . In 2004 it was auctioned at Christie's in London for 17 million pounds (24.6 million euros) plus buyer's premium and acquired by Prince Hans Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein .