The Ladies’ Cabinet

The Ladies' Cabinet

The Ladies’ Cabinet leads from the staircase into the Knight’s Hall and the library. The cabinet displays Hafslund’s ‘industrious women’, relatives, friends, and benefactors of the house, as well as paintings associated with women’s ingenuity, industriousness, trade, and entrepreneurship. The cabinet has the character of a tea room.

The objects and art particularly focus on two female entrepreneurial endeavors: Herrebøe’s faience production in Halden and the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory (Royal Copenhagen). Anna Collett Elieson was involved in the former, and Karen de Werenskiold Huitfeldt was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Juliane Marie, the founder of Royal Danish. The choice of a tea room should associate with the idea that women’s work and entrepreneurship were oral and informal, yet no less valuable.

Paintings

Louise of Great Britain (1724–1751) was Queen of Norway and Denmark from 1746 to 1751. She was the daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and married the future King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway in 1743.

Frederik V was known for his extravagant life of drinking and partying, but Louise is said to have had a positive influence on him and helped curb his more unruly tendencies. Louise gave birth to five children, including the future King Christian VII. She was regarded as a caring and devoted mother, which made her even more popular among the people. Louise died in 1751, at only 27 years old, likely due to complications after childbirth. Her death caused great sorrow, both in the royal family and among the people. They had a happy marriage by the standards of the time; Frederik V grieved deeply over her loss, and it is said that he never fully recovered.

Juliane Marie of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1729–1796) was married to King Frederik V and Queen of Denmark and Norway. Frederik V led a very extravagant and alcoholic life, but his first wife had had a good influence on him. Queen Juliane lacked the same care for her husband and proved to be a significantly more strong-willed and demanding woman. She was kept in check by Frederik V’s right-hand man, the powerful Count Moltke – with good help from Karen de Werenskiold Huitfeldt of Hafslund, whom Count Moltke had hired as the Queen’s Mistress of the Robes a couple of years after she arrived at court. When Frederik V died, both Count Moltke and Karen Huitfeldt lost their positions. As the succeeding king, Christian VII, was unfit to rule, Queen Juliane carried out a coup d’état. The Queen then effectively became regent and held real power in the Dano-Norwegian absolute monarchy from 1772–1784.

Unknown artist, oil on canvas. Late 19th century.

Objects in the Display Cabinet

Only pot with accompanying lid and saucer.

Potpourri jar, also called a stink pot, from Herrebøe faience factory, circa mid-18th century

Potpourri jar, also called a stink pot, from Royal Danish Porcelain, late 18th to early 19th century

The porcelain figures depict Norwegian miners in various work situations and were created based on the sculptures in Nordmannsdalen at Fredriksborg Castle. They are intended as table decorations/conversation pieces. Queen Juliane Marie was responsible for the initiation of porcelain production; Karen de Werenskiold Huitfeldt was her Mistress of the Robes.

Meissen, 18th century

Portrait of Anna Collett Elieson with a drawing of Hafslund Manor, circa 1762

Furniture

Walnut display cabinet from Holland

18th century

Provenance: Goldsmith’s shop at Torvalmenningen in Bergen

Five wooden wall consoles, carved and painted, modern. Copy of an 18th-century console

Flame birch grandfather clock, London.

Clockwork by William Kipling (1705–1750)

Canapé/sofa in walnut veneer with inlaid work and gilded carvings

Northern European, 1760s.

Six identical Rococo chairs with inlaid work.

Dutch, 1770s.

Walnut table with inlaid work.

Holland, 1770s

Rococo mirror

Norwegian-Danish, originally from Lade Manor, Trondheim.

Circa 1760

So-called Altona commode, Circa 1760. Altona in Schleswig–Holstein was part of the Danish Oldenburg state.

Keshan (Iran). Silk, circa 1900–1920

Other porcelain

Wall-mounted porcelain dinnerware

Chinese, Chenlung, 18th century

Porcelain jars, Kangxi, Chinese, approx. 1720

Color: Powder blue, gold decoration,

Provenance: Duke of York, later Ragnar Moltzau Senior’s collections

England, late 18th century. Centerpiece for fruit and vegetables with an allegorical female figure on top. Basic form: rock, shell-shaped bowls.

Graphics

Flora Danica was a scientific work where most plants in Denmark-Norway were depicted with copperplate engravings. The plate work became the basis for the later porcelain plates produced by the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory. When Norway left the union with Denmark, the production of Norwegian flowers ceased, and these plates are rare today.