SHOWCASE 34. AMBASSADORIAL GIFTS. DENMARK

EXPOSITION
HALL 1. RUSSIAN GOLD- AND SILVERWARE OF THE 12TH - EARLY 17TH CENTURY
HALL 2. RUSSIAN GOLD- AND SILVERWARE OF THE 17TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURY
HALL 3. EUROPEAN AND ORIENTAL CEREMONIAL ARMS AND ARMOUR OF THE 15TH - 19TH CENTURIES
HALL 4. RUSSIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR OF THE 12TH - EARLY 19TH CENTURY
HALL 5. WEST EUROPEAN SILVER OF THE 13TH - 19TH CENTURIES
HALL 6. ECCLESIASTICAL ATTIRE, PICTORIAL AND ORNAMENTAL EMBROIDERY OF THE 14TH - 18TH CENTURIES. RUSSIAN ROYAL GARMENT IN THE 16TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURY
HALL 7. ANCIENT STATE REGALIA AND CEREMONIAL ITEMS OF THE 13TH - 18TH CENTURIES
HALL 8. CEREMONIAL HORSE HARNESS OF THE 16TH - 18TH CENTURIES
HALL 9. ROYAL CARRIAGES OF THE 16TH - 18TH CENTURIES

The showcase contains ambassadorial gifts from Denmark, most part of which were executed by German makers in the 17th century and Hamburg craftsmen in particular.

In the 16th and 17th centuries trading and diplomatic representatives from Denmark came to Moscow looking for an alliance with Russia in their rivalry with Sweden over the dominance of the Baltic. In 1644, Waldemar, the son of the Danish monarch, arrived in Moscow as a suitor for Tsarevna Irina, the daughter of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, and brought precious gifts, including ceremonial horse harness, vessels made of nacre and more than two hundred articles made of silver. Here you can see pickle bowls with a Venus on a stem, a goblet in the form of a sliced melon on a plate of fruits, a deer-shaped ewer for washing hands and a silver sweetmeat bowl, known as a ‘confectionery tree’.