Nationalmuseum, Sweden’s museum of art & design, holds c700,000 objects: paintings, sculpture, drawings and graphic art from the C16th until the early C20th, and applied arts and design. The Nationalmuseum is responsible for preserving and making art accessible to all Swedes.
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Portrait of King Gustav III of Sweden
by Lorens Pasch
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There were practitioners of all these crafts in Gustavian Stockholm, but some boxes were imported from Russia, Saxony or France. The gold box was made in Hanau, in the present-day German state of Hessen. It was oval-shaped and décorated with a guilloche-engine-turned wave and circle pattern within a chased/embossed border. It was made in a combination of two different gold alloys to produce colour variations. After the box reached Stockholm, the king’s portrait was on the lid in a frame of diamonds.
The portrait was the work of Johan Georg Henrichsen (1707–79), court enameller of King Gustav III, appointed in 1773. He worked exclusively from originals in pastel or oil created by other artists, but his colour palette was more intense. Henrichsen also produced coats of arms of nobility using miniature techniques.
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King Gustavus III presented this box to British banker, inventor and patron of the poet Robert Burns, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton (1731-1815), given to Miller after he offered his double-hulled ship with a paddle wheel to the King. His ship, the British Sea Monster, was depicted on the base.
King Gustavus III died a young man in 1792. He was at a masked ball when an assassination attempt caused a terrible infection. But I am not sure why very few of his royal gifts of grandeur have survived intact.
by Lorens Pasch
donated to to the Vasa hovrätt in Finland in 1783. Wiki
The exhibition showed the new ideas and artists who came to Sweden from France, to participate in building the new Royal Palace of Stockholm early in the century. The exhibition also looked more closely at the direct impact King Gustav III of Sweden had on culture later on.
At the very time French artists came to Sweden, Swedish artists travelled elsewhere in Europe. In addition to art skills, the artists’ business acumen contributed to taking positions at the top tier of society; some even made careers as court artists. The exhibition dealt with themes: war and diplomacy, trade and science, birth of rococo, Gustav III’s time in Italy, neo classicism and English influences. The greatest star was Alexander Roslin, who, after a year in Paris (1753), became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. Artist Pehr Hilleström painted everyday scenes from industrial sites, kitchens and parlours. Others included Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Hårleman, Louis Jean Desprez, Angelika Kauffmann, Carl August Ehrensvärd, Elias Martin and Carl Fredrik von Breda.
But the works on display I would have most loved were: porcelain, silver and gold art, furniture etc. Since gold-silver art was my life’s passion, I would have given my spouse’s eye teeth to have been there.
The tradition of jewel-encrusted portraits of the monarch had developed earlier in the French court, and soon became a model for other European royal houses. These portraits took the form of a pendant or was mounted in a jewelled setting on the lid of a gold box, the most prestigious gift of appreciation. Queen Christina (1632–54) was the first Swedish monarch to adopt this French fashion, which then flourished in the C18th.
The recent exhibition at Nationalmuseum, called 18th century: Sweden and Europe, focused on the relations between Sweden and Europe during the C18th in the visual arts and applied arts. It scanned across a century of wars and severe hardships, but also a time of optimism for the future and a belief in science where art was closely related to politics and diplomacy. Pefect timing. The C18th Rococo style became prevalent in interior design, painting, sculpture and the decorative arts, starting in France, southern Germany and Austria.
The exhibition showed the new ideas and artists who came to Sweden from France, to participate in building the new Royal Palace of Stockholm early in the century. The exhibition also looked more closely at the direct impact King Gustav III of Sweden had on culture later on.
At the very time French artists came to Sweden, Swedish artists travelled elsewhere in Europe. In addition to art skills, the artists’ business acumen contributed to taking positions at the top tier of society; some even made careers as court artists. The exhibition dealt with themes: war and diplomacy, trade and science, birth of rococo, Gustav III’s time in Italy, neo classicism and English influences. The greatest star was Alexander Roslin, who, after a year in Paris (1753), became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. Artist Pehr Hilleström painted everyday scenes from industrial sites, kitchens and parlours. Others included Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Hårleman, Louis Jean Desprez, Angelika Kauffmann, Carl August Ehrensvärd, Elias Martin and Carl Fredrik von Breda.
But the works on display I would have most loved were: porcelain, silver and gold art, furniture etc. Since gold-silver art was my life’s passion, I would have given my spouse’s eye teeth to have been there.
The tradition of jewel-encrusted portraits of the monarch had developed earlier in the French court, and soon became a model for other European royal houses. These portraits took the form of a pendant or was mounted in a jewelled setting on the lid of a gold box, the most prestigious gift of appreciation. Queen Christina (1632–54) was the first Swedish monarch to adopt this French fashion, which then flourished in the C18th.
Johan Georg Henrichsen: Portrait of Gustav III, c1778.
Gold box, guilloche, chased gold, diamonds, enamel. Made in Hanau.
Sotheby’s. Dec 2021
King Gustav III (1771-92) often handed out gold boxes as a sign of royal favour. Contemporary records show that the king took a significant personal interest in the design and gave detailed instructions to the artists. Sometimes the decoration consisted of his monogram in diamonds; other times his portrait was framed with jewels. Specialist craftsmen collaborated to create the boxes. A silversmith first produced the basic gold box, which was then be decorated by an engraver and adorned with gemstones by a jeweller. Lastly a miniaturist added the portrait.
There were practitioners of all these crafts in Gustavian Stockholm, but some boxes were imported from Russia, Saxony or France. The gold box was made in Hanau, in the present-day German state of Hessen. It was oval-shaped and décorated with a guilloche-engine-turned wave and circle pattern within a chased/embossed border. It was made in a combination of two different gold alloys to produce colour variations. After the box reached Stockholm, the king’s portrait was on the lid in a frame of diamonds.
The portrait was the work of Johan Georg Henrichsen (1707–79), court enameller of King Gustav III, appointed in 1773. He worked exclusively from originals in pastel or oil created by other artists, but his colour palette was more intense. Henrichsen also produced coats of arms of nobility using miniature techniques.
Scottish adventurer/officer John Mackenzie Lord Macleod, 4th Earl of Cromartie (1726–89), had been loyal to Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender. He was held prisoner after the British army defeated the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746. Two years later he was pardoned, but the family had its estates confiscated. In 1750 John Mackenzie joined the Swedish army, becoming Colonel of the Björneborg regiment.
Mackenzie left the Swedish army and returned home in 1778, having been granted a full amnesty and having his estates restored. On his departure from Sweden, the gold box was given to him from King Gustav III as a gift. It stayed in the family for c200 years, until heirs sold it in 1969 then an auction at Sotheby’s London in 2021 (sold for $220,000).
Nationalmuseum receives no state funds to buy artwork; instead they rely on donations from private foundations. The Mackenzie box, gifted from Anna and Hjalmar Wicander Foundation, is now on display in the National Museum’s Treasury, alongside a miniature portrait of Mackenzie.
Mackenzie left the Swedish army and returned home in 1778, having been granted a full amnesty and having his estates restored. On his departure from Sweden, the gold box was given to him from King Gustav III as a gift. It stayed in the family for c200 years, until heirs sold it in 1969 then an auction at Sotheby’s London in 2021 (sold for $220,000).
Nationalmuseum receives no state funds to buy artwork; instead they rely on donations from private foundations. The Mackenzie box, gifted from Anna and Hjalmar Wicander Foundation, is now on display in the National Museum’s Treasury, alongside a miniature portrait of Mackenzie.
The Gustavus III Box
Swedish, 1751
The Victoria & Albert Museum:
Above: cover
Below: side panel
For other gifts of grandeur from Gustav III, see 1751. One enamelled gold box was set with a miniature in watercolour on ivory under glass of Gustavus III of Sweden (1746-92), surrounded by moonstones. On the base and sides, see miniatures of ships or the Swedish naval port of Karlskrona where warships were mounted. The back side of the box featured a scene of a fortification at Sveaborg, the Swedish fort near Helsinki. The box’s ends were also mounted with watercolours on ivory.
King Gustavus III presented this box to British banker, inventor and patron of the poet Robert Burns, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton (1731-1815), given to Miller after he offered his double-hulled ship with a paddle wheel to the King. His ship, the British Sea Monster, was depicted on the base.
King Gustavus III died a young man in 1792. He was at a masked ball when an assassination attempt caused a terrible infection. But I am not sure why very few of his royal gifts of grandeur have survived intact.