Anton Michelsen (supplier of the Danish Royal Court)
The famous Danish jeweler Anton Michelsen (Anton Michelsen) (1809 - 1877) was born in Odense, Denmark, where he founded one of the most significant Danish jewelry dynasties.In 1830, after completing his studies in Odense, he moved to Copenhagen, where for the next eleven years he worked for various young but popular jewelry makers.
Anton opened his first store in Denmark in 1841, studying and working as an apprentice with Jørgen Balthasar Dalhoff (Jørgen Balthasar Dalhoff) from 1834 to 35 years, while attending courses at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. With the assistance of Dahlhoff, Michelsen received a Reisersen Foundation scholarship.
Later, as a successful student, he went to Berlin, where by the end of the 1830s he was working in several well-known workshops of that time, including the workshop of Mention & Wagner (in those years, a large and fashionable silver and goldsmith Wagnera, whose works were highly noted by the bourgeoisie and illustrious customers from royal houses Europe, which allowed the company to keep its main store in Paris, successfully competing with French craftsmen). Working for Mention & Wagner Anton studies enameling, modeling, historical styles, tastes and fashion of silverware of that time.
Upon returning to Denmark in 1840, he successfully confirms his qualification for the title of silversmith, having received a trade license in 1841, and the accumulated money and dowry of his wife allows him to open his own workshop in the city of Gothersgade. Success comes relatively quickly, by 1848 he was officially appointed supplier of the Royal Danish Chapter of Orders, but, in fact, designs and manufactures orders with exquisite enamels for the Danish royal family since the early 1840s.
Surprisingly, in 1855 he is the only Danish silversmith who exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris and received a silver medal of the exhibition. As his work is recognized, Michelsen also becomes a leading master at Danish exhibitions.
At the Nordic Exhibition in 1872, it was obvious to everyone that Michelsen's craftsmanship and design were becoming one of the best in Denmark.For four generations, the company has been producing high-quality jewelry. The proximity to the Danish royal court, as an official supplier, made it possible for the Anton Michelsen dynasty to create impressive, exquisite silverware, following the best European traditions of quality, but invariably preserving and popularizing the Scandinavian flavor in the execution of these works. During these years, he made most of the everyday silverware and table decorations for the royal family (more than a thousand pieces for a ceremonial service for 80 people).
Some of these items were provided to the Amalienborg Museum. Works made of silver by Anton Michelsen's workshop (now part of Georg Jensen) retain high quality of execution and in the XXI century, invariably diverse, but restrained Scandinavian design, continue to be coveted and prestigious gifts.Michelsen had a significant influence on Danish jewelry design both in the XIX century and in the early XX century. Working in the "old" Scandinavian style at the end of the XIX century, distinguished by the then fashionable "massive" style of the late Baroque, and decorative elements of Rococo, already at the beginning of the XX, having perceived the trends and stylistics of Art Nouveau, he transferred to his products the originality of interpretation in its Scandinavian expression.
