Michelangelo's Foot - a Rare and Newly Discovered Drawing

Join us on a journey through time where sparkling gemstones and radiant moments of Denmark's history merge The fascinating story of the Danish Crown Jewels stretches back hundreds of years Iconic stones more than just precious jewels these living symbols carry the history of the monarchy We are located here at the Amalienborg Museum and here at the museum we also display royal jewels Most people are familiar with the fact that the Crown Jewels consist of four iconic sets that daily reside beneath the vaults of Rosenborg Among the crown jewels are also a number of other pieces of jewelry Jewelry not part of the four sets including pieces displayed at Rosenborg Castle is also showcased here at the Amalienborg Museum The portions of the crown jewels on daily display at the museum are those that were most recently added to the collection Thus jewelry that arrived with Queen Louise and Queen Louisa around the year 1900 And as jewelry all of which can easily find its place in this travel suitcase A travel suitcase neatly arranged to accommodate the Danish crown jewels This suitcase was made around 1910 and the jewelry it was designed to hold is now the Danish royal jewels And here's the contents of the suitcase filled with jewelry—yes it's nothing short of the embodiment of the Danish royal jewels The cabinet is fitted with several compartments each of which is designed to hold a selection of the crown jewels Each box is marked on the side with a reference to an inventory list that identifies the type of jewelry each box contains By looking at the side one can easily see what needs to be done with the box here You can also simply take a look inside as the case here is beautifully crafted and specifically designed for the Danish royal jewels Thus space has been made available for all the jewelry In the top box I'm holding here we have space for the emerald set from Rosenborg we have the necklace we have the crown Among the pieces also worth noting is space made for a number of other relatively unknown crown jewels today Among other things three bracelets that can be placed here on the sides which are bracelets Queen Lovisa had made from loose stones from Rosenborg which she discovered around 1906 The Danish royal jewels primarily consist of four exceptional jewelry sets The Diamond Set The Emerald Set The Perlerubin set And the Rosensten set They all acquired their current form when Christian VIII's queen Caroline Amalie had them redesigned in the 1840s The crown jewels belong to the crown meaning the monarch and their consort By tradition in recent times the crown jewels have been worn exclusively by the reigning queen and only within the country's borders The crown jewels are stored in the treasury at Rosenborg Castle and the Amalienborg Museum when not in use Here at Amalienborg we display parts of the royal jewels that few people know about including items from the Mortrum collection located behind the guardhouse where the majority of the newer crown jewels are located The crown jewels placed inside by Queen Louise and Queen Lovisa In 1910 the final inspection of the royal jewels was carried out That was where finally and definitively the items now recognized as the Crown Jewels were established So no jewels have been added to the crown jewels yet but that may change when new ones are added They may have said enough already as some of the jewelry that was brought in were historical pieces Men also created a number of new jewelry pieces around 1910 In the Mortrum collection we have a selection of jewelry that was either incorporated or added She is for instance a somewhat atypical element among the crown jewels Few of us probably stop to think that fans are actually part of the royal jewels Men the crown jewels are actually part of the Danish royal treasures It was Queen Louise wife of Christian IX who decided that this fan should be willed to the crown And in 1910 it was therefore inscribed into the royal regalia Viften which she received from her grandchildren as a golden birthday gift was presented when she and her husband were celebrated a bit extravagantly The gold medal awarded in 1892 And here on the wind we can actually see the origins of it as it was the grandchildren who were the senders And they are displayed here through these coats of arms Coats of arms of the countries the children originated from On this side we have the English coat of arms Alexandra of Datteren had married the English king making her grandchildren the heirs In the center is the Russian sarssvåpen shield belonging to Queen Dagmar's grandchildren or children who were donors here So we have the Danish coat of arms addressed to the golden bollard pair Of course they also had a picture of Frederik VIII and Queen Louise's children as donors Here at the very top is the Greek coat of arms for their son Wilhelm or the first gift from Greece Here we have the gift represented and the giver represented as well That very moment had thus meant a great deal to Queen Louise In any case she left it all to the Danish Crown Around it we have a number of other jewels We have the wild rose a piece of jewelry that Queen Louise adores We have this very long pearl necklace here known as a sotoire us a long neck chain which became fashionable around 1910 such as being equipped with items for balls And that's why Louise had these made And down here we have a selection of bracelets that Louise also had made These pieces are new jewelry crafted from vintage stones and pearls which are also part of the crown tales because the pearls and stones were part of what she came up with at Rosenborg amely some loose stones that were part of the crown jewels And thus we are dealing here with a collection of both historical jewelry as well as jewelry reflecting the style of the early 1910s what was needed how it should be assembled and when the main screw should be tightened In the second box in the travel trunk Queen Louise found her place one of the new pieces of jewelry she had created for the Danish Crown Jewels namely a brooch When Queen Louise ascended the Danish throne her husband Frederick VIII becoming king in 1906 She visited Rosenborg shortly afterward and was struck by the existence of a large collection of unmounted loose gemstones and pearls which she chose to transform into a series of new jewelry pieces Among them is this brooch a so-called wild rose A brooch crafted from rubies and diamonds and a very large rosestone discovered at Rosenborg A diamond with its own unique story this particular gem is one of the oldest pieces of jewelry in the Danish royal regalia In any case we can trace it back through history Stone here according to Sophie Martelline's will from 1746 evidently stands thus the engagement ring that Sofie Martelline received She received a forgiveness ring when she married the later Castinget 6 in 1721 She notes that the stone was set in the ring meaning it has been there and traveled around ever since When the crown jewels were redesigned in the 1840s they took on the form we know today So there was nowhere to place this stone It just lay disassembled and loose on Rosenborg Queen Louisa just after changing has entered the palace to view the jewelry collection He chose to carve this stone and with these diamonds and rubies o create a brooch that could be used among other things to hold a decorative ribbon in place or for embellishing the appearance such as adorning the loo When she entered for instance wearing the pearl brooch which complements this piece so beautifully Queen Louisa undoubtedly used it Whether Queen Alexandrine and Queen Ingrid wore this brooch as well That's something we're less familiar with Queen Louisa had commissioned three additional bracelets for the Danish crown jewels At Rosenborg she found the original fittings for two pearl bracelets It had a different lock one that Queen Marie had installed around 1810 The lock was however removed so the stones could be used for the current crown jewels at Rosenborg Thus the men had left behind these chains of tiny beads From them Queen Louisa crafted two bracelets And shortly after she chose to complete the look with a third piece crafted from pearls from Rosenborg And with this lock which was originally created as a brooch Some could wear a lock featuring a large diamond in the center surrounded by emeralds in the ring and additional diamonds encircling it To make these come together to create this third bracelet It was necessary to find some additional stones as these transition sections between the lock and the bead rails had to be made And thus the transitional piece was made from stone which Queen Louisa incorporated into the crown jewels It therefore has nothing to do with historical stones at least not in relation to the crown jewels Men sten which she brought in and placed there thus creating a third bracelet until the small set of three of the kind each with its own lock When Queen Louisa visited Rosenborg in 1906 to view the crown jewels She met them in the regalet the creative minds standing before me here Treasures of unused pearls and stones which over time have been mounted and unmounted by the crown jewels Thus the stones that were not used in the 1840s e current set of four crown jewels was created That's exactly the kind of thing we're seeing here in this small box from Hofjuller Mikkelsen where they were later placed Rocks like these in quantities piled high on the shelf creating a buildup And it was these stones the loose ones or this particular type of stone that caught her attention And so she felt that the crown jewels should be supplemented with new pieces Here we have pomegranates in abundance small ones And in the box right here beside us yes we've got uncut sapphires stored away Safir lying here at the bottom which at first glance merely resembles stone yet is in fact the precious gemstone still not yet put through the diamond polishing or whatever you'd like to call it Along with the stone there's also a small amount of pearl dust There were also large quantities of pearls found at Rosenborg And so it came from these stones similar to the ones mentioned earlier e supplementary jewels for the Danish royal jewels were created These stones which now lie here in their cases Yes I still consider these to be Danish crown jewels These stones hold the status of crown jewels and thus they are part of the Danish crown jewels yet unused in the opportunity to create new crown jewels f it were to come to the majesty or others Yes they're actually still here as jewelry crafted from the stones found here ey will become part of the Danish royal jewels just as Queen Louise’s additional jewelry did in 1910