Cabinet

The cabinet is an independent piece of furniture, consisting of two parts. Four bun feet support the four balusters that are carved with masks. A stretcher panel with jointed rim is inserted between these balusters. The corners of the table, the broad frieze and the rim of the top are all carved with acanthus leaf motifs running along. The edges of the narrower cupboard are flanked by two slim double baluster of acanthus leaves, which hold the protruding corniche. The frames of the back and the sides are divided into geometrical fields. The folding front shows carved and pierced lath frame, with relief carving in three fields. The middle fields presents a coat of arms enriched with a coronet, which is the united arms of the Oswiecim and Zator principalities and the kingdoms of Galizia and Lodomeria. Each of the side fields is decorated with an allegorical female figure, dressed in folklore clothes: Spring dropping flower and Summer holding a sheaf of grain in the arms. The upper corniche consists of four rows of carved Renaissance-type laths, while its frieze is decorated with a Quattrocento acanthus tendril. The protruding top has a cartouche with a coronet, held by putti, revealing the letters R and S, twined of flowers. The figural field is enclosed by an inscription written in Cyrillic letters and Latin majuscules. It refers to the honour of the owners and the function of the cabinet: NAJDO- STOJNIEJSZEJ + PRAZE + LUDNOSC + GALICYI + W + DNIU + ZASLUBIN + 10 + MAJA + 1881 + R +, i.e. "To the Royal Highnesses, in honour of Galizia, on the 10th May, 1881."

The cabinet was made for the wedding of Prince Rudolf and Stephanie, the Princess of Belgium, as a present from Galizia. (This special genre of furniture is usually referred to as "Dedikationsmöbel".) The piece was presented in Schönbrunn, on 8th May, 1881. The representatives of the peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were dressed in gala clothes, marching and presenting their gifts for hours. The widow of the successor to the throne, later Duchess Lonyai, mentions this wedding gift in her memories (1935): "Galizien sandte einen wundervoll geschnitzten Schrank".

The cabinet was taken to the Oroszvár (Rusovce, Slovakia) castle of the Lonyais with Stephanie's second marriage, and later, at the end of the Second World War it was brought to Pannonhalma and bequeathed as a legacy to the Benedictine Abbey.