The princess’ bureau

The piece in question is a large, late 18th century, Danish Louis XVI bureau of exceptionally high quality which, for a great many years, graced the chambers of the baroque gem Augustenborg castle on the island of Als, where Princess Louise Augusta lived for most of her life.

The history of the princess

Princess Louise Augusta (1771-1843) was officially the daughter of Queen Caroline Mathilde and the mentally-ill King Christian VII. However, the princess is commonly thought to have been the fruit of the fateful love affair between her mother and the king’s physician-in-ordinary – the fabled German Johann Friedrich Struensee. After the relationship was revealed, Caroline Mathilde was exiled and Struensee executed. This notwithstanding, the king accepted Louise Augusta as his own, and she grew up in the Royal Household together with her half-brother, later Frederik VI, to whom she remained close all her life.

Aged 15, the lively Louise Augusta was married to the progressive Duke Frederik Christian of Augustenborg (1765-1814). The arranged and politically motivated marriage between the ill-suited couple was a turbulent one, and in a political conflict between the duchies and the kingdom, she took her brother’s side, spying on her husband, which naturally had fatal consequences for the marriage.

The royal bureau

The beautiful mahogany bureau undoubtedly bore witness to many of the goings-on at Augustenborg castle. Following Louise Augusta’s death in 1843, the bureau was inherited by her lady-in-waiting Henriette Hattensen and has been passed down through her family ever since. It stood in the home of one of her descendants, author, man of letters and librarian Julius Clausen for 56 years until it was acquired by its current owner.

The bureau comes with written documentation of its provenance, including an undated press clipping entitled “Minderige møbler” (furniture rich in memories), probably from the newspaper Politiken and an article on Julius Clausen from the "Danish Biographical Lexicon. Slægtstavlesamlingen" (Descendants’ Collection) (1932).

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Preview: 22 - 26 September

Auction: 27 September - 4 October