International studio (50.1913)

The Chateau of Rosenborg, Copenhagen


THE ROSE APARTMENT

contains fine specimens of furniture from the
period, besides an abundance of busts, statuettes,
portraits and other paintings, dresses, arms, &c.
On the first floor are the apartments of the sub-
sequent kings of Denmark. Some of these have
undergone several changes of late years, and none
more so than that called the Rose Apartment. Its
vicissitudes have been manifold, and I, and many
with me, trust the present phase may not be its
final. Our illustration shows it in the state to
which it had been restored, if one could use the
word in this connection, during the latter decades
of the last century, when in refined and subtle
beauty it could vie with almost any room in the
chateau. The silk tapestries which then covered
the walls were probably brought from Italy by
King Frederick IV; they are supposed to have
been used in the bedchamber of Crown Princess
Marie Sophie Fredericke at the Palace of Chris-
tiansborg, in which case they must have been saved
from the destruction of this palace by fire in the year
1794; they are believed to have been then used at
the palace of Horsholm, and when this was pulled
down at the beginning of last century to have been
conveyed to Rosenborg. The very handsome paint-

ings on the ceiling, by Coiffre and Krock, have only
for some four decades graced their present place,
having been brought from Frederiksborg Castle, as
was the marquetry floor. The chair and table in
the centre of the room are embossed silver and
exceedingly handsome, as were the mirrors, busts
and pictures then supplementing the equipment of
a very lovely room. But a change has come over
the spirit of this dream. Frederick IV has had to
give way to Frederick V, gilt leather has replaced
the silken tapestry, and a number of elaborate
cabinets now adorn its walls, amongst them the
huge and famous Lehmann cabinet; and in the
centre of this room, in shop or auction-room fashion,
has been arranged a huge display of Flora Danica
china (removed from the porcelain room), the white
masses of this otherwise very charming china clash-
ing terribly with the hues of the apartment.
The Princess’s Antechamber is a little less regal
in its equipment; the walls are covered with
woollen tapestry and the floor is wood. The ceiling,
divided into a number of partitions, dates from the
time of Christian IV ; it is decorated with paintings
of birds, garlands, and allegorical figures, the
central portion perhaps being a representation of
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