OBJECTive

Historical data on auctions in the modern era (1750-1950), ready to explore and reuse

Objets d'art (or decorative arts) are challenging to research as they include a vast array of objects, encompassing ceramics, furniture, glass, metalwork, and textiles, all with distinctive forms, functions and materials, and their creators are often unknown. Under-represented in cultural economics and heritage studies, the absence of a comprehensive dataset is an obstacle to study and track pieces across time.

This project aims to create a database on objets d'art auction sales by working from a consistent source: the auction catalogue.

From the mid-18th century auctions have been organised, mainly in Paris and London, to sell and disperse objects, increasing greatly in the first half of the 19th century to reach a rhythm of several thousand sales per decade. Individual auctions have always both combined and dispersed a great diversity of fine objects, from a multitude of origins. The catalogue is a crucial record. In many cases annotated catalogues exist (with hammer prices and buyers) and others can be cross-referenced with auctioneers' archives. The core of the dataset will be built up from the selection of a vast corpus of auction catalogues for the decorative arts. These catalogues will be interrogated through digital methods (extraction, processing and machine learning) and Geovistory will be used to integrate and structure various data collections. The database will offer a new tool for identification and provenance research but will also focus on the individuals and institutions involved (sellers/buyers), allowing for a study of the networks and characteristics of this market over a long period.

From September 2023 to 2025 this project benefits from an ANR/Access ERC funding, to explore the corpus, map the project planning and test the methods with the input of the LARHRA engineers.

The team

Dr. Camille Mestdagh

Project Leader

LARHRA Engineers

Morgane Pica M.A

Database preparatory work

Scientific Commitee

(being formed)

Institutional Partners