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This monumental, free-standing cabinet comes from the English royal collections. It was produced in the grand ducal workshops in Florence in the period of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. This furniture type functioned as a strong box designed to hold treasure of jewels, gems, cameos, coins, medallions, etc. In this example twelve panels with semiprecious stone inlays form the fulcrum of the entire decorative scheme. Three of these panels dominate the front: they show spacious architectural and landscape views, inspired by seventeenth-century painting. The other panels represent vegetable twines and floral compositions.
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