About Provenance
Provenance is a term used to describe the history of an item’s ownership. A particular item’s provenance will often include each owner’s identity, when it was in their possession, where it was kept, and even information about the context in which it was owned (IE, private collection or museum). All items possess their own unique provenance. However, often this information has been lost to time. Part of the PABLO initiative is to recover and record provenance information for the former Boncompagni Ludovisi collection for public access.
There are many barriers to provenance research and accessibility. Historic inventories use vague descriptions that can apply to many artifacts at once. Moreover, even in cases where provenance is known, it is often unpublished because of administrative oversight or because it is not a priority. Nonetheless, PABLO aims to overcome barriers and create an accessible platform because of the rich information provenance can lend to our understanding of an object and its significance. Documented provenance is a useful tool that can be called upon in legal, social, and scholarly contexts.
An alternative term, provenience refers to the location where an archaeological object was found. It is difficult if at all possible, to identify the provenience, of certain objects (like gems). Sometimes they continued to circulate among people since antiquity. Meanwhile, in other cases, those found in an archaeological context were poorly documented. Thus, generally, PABLO will provide an early modern to contemporary provenance.
When applicable, PABLO provenance records will attach primary sources and references. However, in any instance, if further sources are needed to clarify our records or if you notice any discrepancies please contact provenanceabl@gmail.com.