The Royal Danish CollectionRosenborgCastle historyInterior and objectsG The TreasuryPomander

Pomander

Pomander from c. 1600, in the form of a skull. Made of gold and white enamel with rubies. Inside a sponge and compartments for perfume. The skull symbolizes the transience of human life, and was one of many vanity symbols, which were very typical of the time, that could be found in more upperclass circles.

Relations

The Danish Royal Crowns and Other Symbols of Power

The foremost symbols of the realm are also called regalia, which means the ‘emblems and symbols indicative of the monarch’.  In a Danish context this concerns the crowns of the kings and queens, the sceptre, the orb (symbol of the Universe and the Earth), the coronation sword, the sword of the realm, the beaker for the coronation oil, and the thrones. Many people no doubt imagine the King sitting on his throne in daily audience, wearing his crown with the other regalia within reach, but they were in fact only used once in a king’s life, at his crowning or coronation. The oldest known crowning in Denmark is that of Knud VI in 1170 in Ringsted Church, and the tradition for crowning continued up until Frederik III. At the Crowning of Frederik III Denmark was an elective monarchy, in which the king’s eldest son was chosen as king only by the grace of the Privy Council, and had to sign a contract – a coronation charter – which curbed his powers with regard to the Privy Council. At the crowning of the king it was therefore the Privy Councillors who symbolically took part in the placement of the crown. During the reign of Frederik III absolutism was introduced in Denmark, and his son, Christian V, therefore automatically inherited the title of king – solely by the grace God and no longer also of the Privy Council. The coronation ceremony therefore fell out of use; the king now placed the crown on his own head, after which he had himself anointed in the church as a divine blessing of the monarchy’s calling. Christian IV’s crown was also used at Frederik III’s crowning, but at the coronation of Christian V as absolute monarch in 1670, the inset from Frederik III’s crown was melted down and a new crown made of the gold. A new era began, and the crown is also known as “the crown of the absolute monarchs”. A new epoch began again with the dissolution of absolutism in 1848, and Christian VIII’s coronation in 1840 was the last. From then on the crown has only been used once in each king’s life, in fact when he is dead. The monarch’s coffin is put on display in the Palace Church at Christiansborg for the so-called “Castrum doloris” (from the Latin: Castle of grief) where the crown is laid on the lid of the coffin and the other regalia set up in front of it.

Chalice

Chalice, paten, wafer box and altar jug of gold with engraving in niello, white and black enamel, sapphires and diamonds.

Pomander

Pomander of girasol in enamelled gold. Inside an aromatic sponge and enamelled motifs with inscriptions satirising human vanity. The Pomander belonged to Leonora Christina.

Ellen Marsvin, 1648

Ellen Marsvin, Kirsten Munk’s mother. Half-length, painted by Karel van Mander. The painting is dated 1648, the year before Ellen Marsvin died.

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.

Christian IV

Christian IV was the King of Denmark and Norway from 1588; crowned in 1596. Son of Frederik II and Sophie of Mecklenburg.