Appearance
Provenance
Overview
A provenance record captures one period of ownership in an artwork's history. Together, all provenance entries form the full chain of custody — a chronological trail of every person or institution that has held the work. Provenance is one of the most important elements of an artwork's legitimacy and value in the art market.
Provenance entries are part of the public record. They appear on the front card and are visible to anyone the card is shared with.
Fields
| Field | What it represents |
|---|---|
| Owner | The name of the person or institution that held the artwork during this period |
| Location | Where the artwork was held during this period |
| Date | When this ownership period began |
Business Rules
Any user who can view a card — whether they are the current owner or someone the card was shared with — can add a new provenance entry to it.
Each provenance entry carries an editability flag. An entry is editable only by the user who created it. Entries added by a previous owner remain visible to the current owner but cannot be modified by them.
The editability of an entry is determined by whether the current card owner is also the card's original creator. If the current owner is not the creator, entries added by the creator (or any prior owner) are read-only.
Provenance always travels with a card when it is transferred. See Transfer.
On accepted transfer, all provenance entries are copied to the recipient's version of the card.
Constraints
- An entry's owner field, location, and date cannot be edited by anyone other than the entry's author.
- There is no limit on the number of provenance entries a card can have.