Article: Perhaps the most spectacular--certainly the most expensive--piece of furniture ever sold is being offered in London. In New York, meanwhile, a large Roman cameo and a dazzling Sargent are the star lots.(Market Preview)

'Masterpiece' is a much abused word, not least in the art business. But on 9 December, Christie's London offer one such stupendous, peerless piece, the Badminton cabinet. Alvar Gonzalez Palacios, the distinguished furniture historian, describes it as 'the last great work of art made in Florence under the Medici' and also as 'the most spectacular piece of furniture in private hands'. Spectacular it certainly is, standing almost four metres high and its monumental ebony-veneered architectural form articulated and enriched by lavish ormolu mounts, pietra dura panels depicting birds amid sprays of flowers, and pilasters panelled with lapis lazuli and Sicilian red jasper. At ...

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