June 15 - September 26 2010 In conjunction with the royal wedding, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde is opening a small-format arts and crafts exhibition - Ring and Crown. The exhibition is arranged in collaboration with the author Magdalena Ribbing and features some twenty crowns and around fifty rings. The ring is a symbol of eternity, it has no beginning and no end. It also symbolizes love, power and tradition. In the past, it was a ring that constituted the jeweller's masterpiece. Interestingly enough, for a married woman to wear two rings - a betrothal as well as a wedding ring - was already a tradition back in the 17th century in Sweden. One of the oldest betrothal rings that has been worn by a named person, is a ring that today is in the Collections of Statens historiska museum (the State Historical Museum) in Stockholm. The ring was worn by Cecilia Månsdotter, the mother of king Gustav Vasa, from 1488. It is decorated with a Virgin Mary image and seven gems, symbolizing Mary's seven sorrows and seven joys. This ring, together with the coronation ring of Karl IX from 1607, are shown in the exhibition, as well as Count Johan Casimir's ring, worn at his wedding in 1615 to the Swedish princess Katarina. Not only royal rings are featured in the exhibition, there is also a selection of other finely crafted rings, dating from the 17th century to the present. The most contemporary of these was designed by Oscar Magnuson in 2009. To adorn the heads of the bridal couple was a tradition already in classical antiquity, when wreaths of flowers or laurel were used. In the Middle Ages, the tradition of bridal crowns started in Sweden. This had its origins in the bride being likened to the Virgin Mary in the wedding ceremony. The design of early bridal crowns was therefore influenced by the crowns in the images of the Virgin Mary.* The bridal crowns shown in the exhibition span six centuries. The oldest crown dates back to 1597, and was made by goldsmith Hans Klausen. It is the most consummate late 16th century Swedish chased-work piece known to us today. Nordiska museet (the Nordic Museum) as well as Nationalmuseum have contributed crowns from the 17th century. One example is a crown of Gothic design, fashioned in silver and bevelled foiled glass, on loan from Vreta kloster. It was donated to the Church at Stjärnorp, southwest of Stockholm, in 1781. Several bridal crowns of interesting design from the 20th century are also featured in the exhibition. Elon Arenhill (b. 1922) has hammered out a crown with closed hoops crowned by a Baroque pearl, and Barbro Littmarck (employed 1941-1983 by W. A. Bolin, jeweller to H M the King) has designed three crowns. One silver crown from 1961 was made by Gothenburg silver and goldsmith Anders Högberg, and Heinz Decker's silver crown has been fashioned by Karl-Axel Karlsson in 1974. The most contemporary crowns to be exhibited, date from 2004, and were made by Olle Ohlsson.