The cabinet is made from mahogany and oak, decorated with marquetry of satinwood and rosewood, with gilt-bronze ormolu mounts and inlaid with eleven Italian pietra dura plaques.
It was commissioned by Elizabeth Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, and designed by Robert Adam in 1771 in neo-classical Italianate style, with flat pilasters and straight narrow legs.
Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill's Soho Manufactory near Birmingham supplied the gilt-bronze mounts, which cost more than the rest of the cabinet.
The panels were made by Florentine artist Baccio Cappelli in 1709 at the Galleria dei Lavori mosaic workshop in Florence, using small samples of marble and other stones mounted on a slate backing to create the decorative images.
The castle was remodelled on more classical lines by Sir John Vanbrugh in the early 1700s, and Robert Adam designed a gatehouse and entrance screen in the 1760s.