Queen Anne Style Mahogany Single Armchair Aalholm Slot Castle Denmark

A most comfortable armchair. The central splat is decorated with a sunburst design above an intertwining decoration. It has a pale gold coloured damask upholstery seat which bears minor signs of wear. Age related marks throughout and areas of varnish loss.

Size: H95.5cm  W61cm  L62cm

Provenance: This is directly from Aalholm Slot Castle in Denmark and was retained by the family before the Sotheby’s sale of 1996

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From the sale catalogue

 Aalholm Slot is situated in a picturesque inlet on the Baltic coast. It was founded as a coastal fortress and became an important royal castle in 1375.
It has been the home of the Raben Levetzau family since 1725, the Danish King, Frederik IV, sold property in order to pay off war-debts. This included Aalholm Slot which was auctioned in 1725.
 The Slot was bought by Emerentia Von Levetzau (1669-1746), the widow of Johan Otto Raben (1646-1719), a courier from Mecklenburg. She bought other estates nearby and founded the County of Christiansholm. The estate passed to her son Otto Ludvig Raben (1730-1791), an accomplished flautist who studied in Paris. In 1766 alone, Otto Ludvig performed 157 concerts, many at the Royal Court. He altered much of the Slot in the mid-17th Century, redecorat8ing the East wing in 1761.
 When he died in 1791, Aalholm was inherited by Ottos Ludvig’s son, Frederik Christian Raben (1769-1838), an avid natural historian who studied flowers, plants, minerals and astronomy and formed large collections of books, birds and plants. He planted many rare trees in the park at Aalholm. He travelled widely and died in Rio de Janeiro on a botanical journey.
 His eldest son, Gregers Christian Raben (1838-1875), was an educated Doctor of Philosophy who studied in Germany. An eccentric character, he refused to continue to live at Aalholm following the death of his beloved wife, Anna Lund, who died childless.
 The next notable family member to live at Aalholm was Frederik Christopher (1850-1933) who made a name for himself in diplomatic service. As a young man posted to Rome, he met, fell in love with and married Lillie Suzanne (1864-1946), the daughter of an American banker. Frederik Christopher served the Danish Government as Foreign Minister between 1905-1908.
 After refurbishment, Aalholm was the setting for some of the most glittering international gatherings for the period. Visits from members of the Royal European families, included Wilhelm II of Germany, Edward VII of England and the King of Sweden. The dining room, ballroom and red salon were enlarged to accommodate parties and balls.
 Johan Otto, took over the estate in 1933 and ran it until his death when the estate was passed to his son John Otto. Together with wife Merete, Aalholm became established as one of the best-known tourist attractions in Denmark. Since 1972, when the Slot was first publicly opened, nearly 50,000 people visited each year.
Like many landowners of Denmark, the couple were faced with difficulties in raising revenue to maintain the up-keep of a large estate like Aalholm. Due to a drop in tourism and financial problems experienced following Johan Ottos death, a difficult decision was made to sell the Slot and its contents with the hope that perspective purchasers would look after and cherish the objects in the same way that the family had done since 1725.

Aalholm Slot Castle

Aalholm Castle is a castle and country estate in Nysted in the municipality of Guldborgsund, on the south coast of the island of Lolland, Denmark. It is the oldest castle on the island, first mentioned in 1329. The main building was built in 1300–1585, with major rebuilding especially in 1768 and in 1889 under Hans Jorgen Holm and Gotfred Tvede. Inscriptions in the building show that it was originally completed in 1585.

The castle was initially the seat of the king's vassal or lensmand, and thus the centre of local government. It is not known when the castle was founded, but for historical reasons, it was probably around 1200. During this period, a number of royal castles were built across the country to strengthen the king's power in the regions and guard against attack. They include Koldinghus, Riberhus, Copenhagen castle, Naesbyhoved Castle near Odense, Sonderborg and Nordborg on the island of Als, Tarnborg near Korsør, Nyborg, Gurre Castle and Soborg in the north of Zealand, Ravnsborg in northern Lolland and many more.

The importance of the area at the time can also be appreciated from the fact that the Franciscan monastery in Nysted, built in 1286, was the only one on the islands, especially as the Franciscans always settled in thriving, populated areas where they could rely on the support of the inhabitants.

However, it is impossible to trace the early history of the castle as there are no written sources and any archaeological evidence is hidden beneath today's building. The castle has been built and rebuilt even since it was founded. The oldest part of the existing building is the north wing, thought to date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Thereafter, there is plenty of documentation on restoration and refurbishment, sometimes also revealing the poor state of the building. For example, in the 1550s, bricks from the Franciscan monastery were used to repair the castle while after the Swedish Wars of 1657-1660, the building had no windows and the towers no roofs. In the 18th century, parts of the south wing were demolished and the east wing was fully renovated. In 1889, a further section of the south wing was pulled down and two new lateral wings were added on the south side of the north wing. As a result, the once rectangular structure now took on a shape resembling a pair of spectacles. Since then there have been no significant changes to the castle's exterior.

In the 1970s, parts of the castle were opened to the public as a museum, while the former owner established a vintage car museum on Stubberup Farm about one kilometer to the west of the castle. In connection with the sale of the castle and estate in 1995, all the furnishings were auctioned off while the new owner took over the automobile museum. The museum was closed in 2008 owing to the poor state of the buildings. The cars were sold by RM Auctions on August 12, 2012, realizing sales of 10.2 million Euros.