The Royal Danish CollectionRosenborgCastle historyInterior and objects5: The Marble RoomMasque figures

Masque figures

Two masque figures (comedy figures, morra players) of coloured glass on a framework of metal thread. The masks were made in Venice c. 1600. The figures in question are contesting each other in a game of morra with a wager of wine and sausage, as displayed on the stool. The basic outlines of the game was to be the first one to correctly count the opponents’ number of fingers at the flick of a hand. The depicted characters are supposedly the resourceful servant Scapino and the boastful captain Zerbino, both notorious characters from the Italian masked comedy, a popular pastime activity for most princes of Europe at the time.

Relations

Chess Game

Chess game with ‘Dane’ and ‘Swede’ pieces cut of limestone, following Frederik III’s defeat to Charles X Gustav in 1658.

Table

Table with inlaid semi-precious stones. Made in Florence, the table was presented in 1709 to Frederik IV from the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Animal group in wax

An elephant shaking off its keeper and tossing aside an ibex. Allegorical representation of the victory over Gustaf Otto Stenbock’s Swedish army at Nyborg, 1659.

Porcelain figures

Chinese porcelain figures; placed in this room in the time of Queen Charlotte Amalie, who died in 1714.

1600-1625

The first decades of the 17th century was a great period for the entrepreneurial and ambitious Christian IV. An economic depression was on its way, but its full force had not yet been felt.