Cultural and commercial exchange is something inherent

in art history research as well as in the trade of art and antiquities. Any

nation’s cultural heritage exists only in comparison with the heritage of

another nation, so the identification and care of the specific national

qualities are of great importance. Thus cultural heritage has great political

ramifications. Historically as well as in present time artefacts cross nation

state borders through conflict, diplomacy or legal trade. For the future

development of a rich national cultural heritage, it is also important to

maintain exchange within and beyond national borders. At the same time, the protection of national cultural heritage calls for restrictions on trade and

property legislation. The central question of the research is the present

consequences of cultural heritage policies that affect Swedish markets in

antiquities as well as art historical value.

The project will look at issues of creating cultural value and cultural heritage from different themes such as Globalisation, Canonization, and Administration of Knowledge. Case studies are selected from the Stockholm Auktionverk archive of trade dating back to 1674.

The research is a joint project between Södertörn University and Stockholm Auktionsverk and is funded by KK-stiftelsen, Stockholm Auktionsverk and Södertörn Högskola and runs between 2011-2014. The project is led by Charlotte Bydler and involves Katarina Wadstein MacLeod at Södertörn University and Lena Ryden and Ulla-Karin Warberg at Stockholm Auktionsverk.