C Ivory and amber

In the cellar room furthest to the north about half of Rosenborg’s 700 or so artefacts made of ivory and amber are displayed. They range in date from 1585 to1850. Some are gifts from foreign princes in return for white hunting falcons from Iceland and horses from Denmark. Some were bought in Nuremberg and Augsburg, the south German centres for luxury goods. Others are war booty from Gottorp Castle, the residence of the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein, which was emptied in 1713.

Most of these objects were made in the 18th century, however, and this is unique among European princely collections. From the time of Frederik II until that of Frederik V all the successive kings of Denmark-Norway employed turners and carvers, several of whom belonged to the international elite.

Many of these court artists had the special responsibility of teaching members of the royal family the art of turning. It was thought that work with the lathe encouraged the pupil’s interest in mathematics and mechanics and fostered patience and planning-ability – valuable qualities for a future monarch. In Denmark this activity culminated in around 1750.

Amber was often made into objects for religious use in the Catholic era – e.g. rosaries. After the Reformation it was used for secular purposes such as caskets, objects for the table and chandeliers for princely curiosity cabinets. In around 1720 amber was supplanted by the new European porcelain, which became the latest fashion at most of the courts. Not in Copenhagen, however; here amber, “the gold of the North” kept its status.

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