Roman Splendour, English Arcadia (National Trust Series)

At Stourhead in Wiltshire, the Palladian mansion contains an extraordinary Roman cabinet glittering with gilt-bronze mounts, semi-precious stones and elaborate architectural ornament. Its façade conceals over 125 more-or-less secret drawers. The cabinet was brought to Stourhead in 1740 by Henry Hoare 'the Magnificent', of the Hoare banking dynasty; he had purchased it in Rome, where it had been made for Pope Sixtus V, whose papacy, from 1585 to 1590,coincided with the Spanish Armada.

The superb quality of the 'Sixtus Cabinet' became apparent during restoration in 2006–7 and this prompted an investigation into its history, resulting in this remarkably wide-ranging study of Italian and English artistry, patronage and taste.The text is lavishly illustrated with photographs of the cabinet and examples of other pieces of pietre dure inlaid furniture in English collections.