Provenance

Provenance is “the full history and ownership of an item from the time of its discovery or creation to the present day, through which authenticity and ownership are determined”.

Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.

This is how ICOM, the International Council of Museums, defines it in its Code of Ethics for Museums. The standard is demanding. Due diligence should establish the full history of the item since discovery or production (art. 2.3). The key sentence is in article 2.2: proof of lawful ownership in a country is not necessarily valid title.

The trade uses a shorter rule. It asks where an object was in 1970 and stops there. It helps to know where that date comes from, because the treaty behind it says something different.

The UNESCO Convention against the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property was adopted in Paris on 14 November 1970. It came into force on 24 April 1972. The countries that have joined it are called States Parties. Importing, exporting or transferring ownership of cultural property is illicit if it breaks the rules they adopt under the Convention (art. 3).

Each State Party must stop museums and similar institutions on its territory from acquiring illegally exported cultural property that comes from another State Party (art. 7(a)). This covers exports after the Convention came into force in the States concerned.

States Parties must also ban the import of property stolen from a museum, a religious or secular public monument or a similar institution in another State Party (art. 7(b)(i)). This covers thefts after the Convention came into force for the States concerned. The ban covers only property documented as part of that institution’s inventory. The State of origin can ask for such property to be recovered and returned. It must then pay just compensation to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title (art. 7(b)(ii)).

So the date that counts is entry into force in the States concerned. It differs for every pair of countries, and for most of them it is later than 1970. The market’s flat 1970 line is a convenient shortcut. It is simpler than the Convention, and the Convention does not set it.

The Convention also works through national law. It does not act directly on a private sale. Under article 3, a transfer is illicit when it breaks the rules each State Party has adopted in its own legislation under the Convention.

Object ID is an internationally recognised standard for identifying and recording cultural goods. The Getty Information Institute started it in 1993, with museums, police forces, customs agencies, the art trade, valuers and the insurance industry. It was launched in 1997. Since October 2004 ICOM has held the licence to promote its use.

ICOM defines valid title as an indisputable right to ownership of property, supported by full provenance of the item since discovery or production. So title has to be proved, and the proof is the chain of owners.

Even so, full provenance cannot stop a return. The Convention allows property to go back to the State of origin, with just compensation paid to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title (art. 7(b)(ii)). Good faith and a clean chain change what is paid. Under that article, they do not change whether the object goes back.

See also certificate of authenticity and catalogue raisonné. For a work by a living artist, see checking a contemporary work is authentic.