Term
Provenance
The documented history of an object's ownership and sale. Clear provenance can support identification and authenticity.
- Category
- Term
- Index letter
- P
Understanding the term
Strong provenance may include receipts, auction records, exhibition labels, photographs or archival references. Gaps in ownership are not necessarily suspicious, but they should be stated clearly. An oral family history is a lead, not documentation by itself.
When Provenance appears in a description, the term helps specify a work's form, status or history. Its precise meaning should always be read alongside information about material, technique, date and origin.
Specialist terminology is most useful when it can be supported. Signatures, labels, edition numbers, documentation and visible traces in the object can all help establish whether a term is accurate in a particular case.
Related entries
Continue through the glossary with terms from the same field.