Learning versus status?: Kunstkammer or Schatzkammer?

Abstract

The subject of this article is Danish royal collecting and the dynastic national heritage 1520–1900. In 1650 Frederik III established a Kunstkammer at Copenhagen Castle which has traditionally been considered synonymous with royal collecting. Yet, on his accession in 1648 Frederik III had inherited a prestige armoury that was transferred to Rosenborg in 1658 and soon developed into a treasure collection. Thus both the Kunstkammer and Rosenborg contained applied art objects, and as the two collections were born late in the international context, one can wonder at their overlapping significance. They are here compared and new evidence laid forth demonstrating that around 1690 principles were established for the division of objects between the two collections. Furthermore it is proved that these principles remained in use until the dissolution of the Kunstkammer and the founding of the Danish museums system in the 1820s. During the nineteenth century, however, a series of redistributions between the new museums mixed the objects leading to conceptual confusion as to the original functions of the two collections.

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