The Badminton Cabinet (Museum Guides)

The Badminton Cabinet (Museum Guides)

The Badminton Cabinet is the most expensive piece of furniture ever sold at auction - selling for over GBP19 million, at Christie's in December 2004. Dedicated solely to this marvellous and monumental piece of furniture, the book reveals a true gem - the only piece of furniture to rank in the Top 20 highest sellers at auction (Number 17), shortly behind Picasso's, Monet's and van Gogh's. Inlaid with hard and semiprecious stones, this 18th Century Florentine chest, standing at 14ft high and 7 ft wide was never about function. It was commissioned in an era when exquisite decorative objects signified wealth and power, just as paintings and sculptures have since. The Cabinet was commissioned by Henry Somerset, the 3rd Duke of Beaufort, in 1726. Experts say it took an estimated 30 craftsmen at least five years to complete. It remained in Beaufort family hands at Badminton until 1990 when it was sold to Barbara Piasecka Johnson, heiress to the Johnson and Johnson baby powder fortune, for GBP8,580,000. Bought by the Prince of Liechtenstein in December 2004 for the Museum, it is now one of the main attractions in the Liechtenstein Museum - and has made headlines worldwide.