Object Production and Destruction

Table of Contents


Introduction

This section covers the beginning and ending of objects' existence, along with the attribution of the artist to the production of the object.

Object Creation

The first activity in an object's provenance or lifecycle is its creation, or Production. The relationship to the object that was produced by the activity (produced) is added to the general activity model, along with the time, location and actors.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/75", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "produced": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/83", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Example Painting", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Painting"
        }, 
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Artwork"
        }
      ]
    }
  ], 
  "took_place_at": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/place/17", 
      "type": "Place", 
      "label": "Example Artist's Studio"
    }
  ], 
  "timespan": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/time/19", 
    "type": "TimeSpan", 
    "begin_of_the_begin": "1780-03-05T00:00:00Z", 
    "end_of_the_end": "1780-03-06T00:00:00Z"
  }, 
  "carried_out_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/actor/19", 
      "type": "Actor", 
      "label": "Example Artist"
    }
  ]
}

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Inspiration or Copies

Some artworks are copies of, or clearly directly inspired by, others. This relationship with another work can be captured with the influenced_by property of the Production activity. The copy could be from memory or with the copied object physically present, and it could be a faithful reproduction or merely recognizably similar.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/76", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "produced": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/84", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Copy of Example Painting", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Painting"
        }, 
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Artwork"
        }
      ]
    }
  ], 
  "influenced_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/85", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Example Painting", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Painting"
        }, 
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Artwork"
        }
      ]
    }
  ], 
  "carried_out_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/person/33", 
      "type": "Person", 
      "label": "Copyist"
    }
  ]
}

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Reproduction from an Identifiable Source

Many objects are created from a source, such as a photograph being printed from a negative, a print created from a woodcut, or a sculpture made from a cast. The use of the particular source can be captured as part of the description of the Production of the object using the used_specific_object property.

All of the art objects created from the same source show the same image, be it flat or three dimensional. The source also shows the same image, albiet likely somehow reversed. The image is modeled as a VisualItem that all of the physical objects, including the source object, show. This allows us to group the objects together based on their provenance.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/77", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "label": "Printing of Photograph", 
  "used_specific_object": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/87", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Negative", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300127173", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Photographic Negative"
        }
      ], 
      "shows": [
        {
          "id": "https://linked.art/example/VisualItem/6", 
          "type": "VisualItem", 
          "label": "Visual Content of Photographs and Negative"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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Techniques

If there is a particular technique known to have been used in the creation of the object, for example glassblowing identified by aat:300053932, the identifier for the technique can be included as the technique of the activity.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/78", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "technique": [
    {
      "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300053932", 
      "type": "Type", 
      "label": "Glassblowing"
    }
  ], 
  "carried_out_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/actor/20", 
      "type": "Actor", 
      "label": "Example Glassblower"
    }
  ]
}

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Multiple Artists with Roles

If there are multiple artists collaborating, and they had individual roles or their work took place at different locations or over different time periods, then we follow the pattern of creating components of the main Production activity. Each of the components captures the details of one particular artist's role in the production of the object. For example, a sculpture that is painted by another artist, would be produced by the overall activity, with two components one for each artist's role.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/79", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "part": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/80", 
      "type": "Production", 
      "technique": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300264383", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Sculpting"
        }
      ], 
      "carried_out_by": [
        {
          "id": "https://linked.art/example/actor/21", 
          "type": "Actor", 
          "label": "Example Sculptor"
        }
      ]
    }, 
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/81", 
      "type": "Production", 
      "technique": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300161986", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Painting"
        }
      ], 
      "carried_out_by": [
        {
          "id": "https://linked.art/example/actor/22", 
          "type": "Actor", 
          "label": "Example Sculpture Painter"
        }
      ]
    }
  ], 
  "produced": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/89", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Painted Sculpture", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300047090", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Sculpture"
        }, 
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Artwork"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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Attribution of a Group

Even if the artist's or artists' identity is not known exactly, the person or persons may be known to have been part of a group, such as the workshop of a more famous "master". In this case, the Group that represents the workshop can be the actor that carries out the Production. The "master" of the workshop is represented as the Actor that carried out the Formation of the Group.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/82", 
  "type": "Production", 
  "produced": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/90", 
      "type": "ManMadeObject", 
      "label": "Example Painting, from workshop of Example Master", 
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Painting"
        }, 
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
          "type": "Type", 
          "label": "Artwork"
        }
      ]
    }
  ], 
  "carried_out_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/group/22", 
      "type": "Group", 
      "label": "Workshop of Example Master", 
      "formed_by": {
        "id": "https://linked.art/example/Formation/0", 
        "type": "Formation", 
        "carried_out_by": [
          {
            "id": "https://linked.art/example/person/34", 
            "type": "Person", 
            "label": "Example Master"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Previous or Uncertain Attributions

Over time, attributions can be contested and change. The actor that is listed in carried_out_by from the Production should always be the one currently believed to have produced the art work. Previous attributions, or ones that are so uncertain that there is a concern about using carried_out_by at all, can be recorded using the AttributeAssignment pattern, further described here.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/83", 
  "type": "AttributeAssignment", 
  "classified_as": "produced_by", 
  "timespan": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/time/20", 
    "type": "TimeSpan", 
    "begin_of_the_begin": "1923-07-20", 
    "end_of_the_end": "1923-07-21"
  }, 
  "assigned": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/84", 
    "type": "Production", 
    "carried_out_by": [
      {
        "id": "https://linked.art/example/person/35", 
        "type": "Person", 
        "label": "Previously-Thought Artist"
      }
    ]
  }, 
  "assigned_to": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/91", 
    "type": "ManMadeObject", 
    "label": "Example Painting", 
    "classified_as": [
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
        "type": "Type", 
        "label": "Painting"
      }, 
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
        "type": "Type", 
        "label": "Artwork"
      }
    ]
  }, 
  "carried_out_by": [
    {
      "id": "https://linked.art/example/person/36", 
      "type": "Person", 
      "label": "Painting Curator"
    }
  ]
}

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Destruction

The end of the provenance chain of an object is when it is known to have been destroyed. Loss of the object leaves the chain open ended as it might be recovered in the future, however if the object is destroyed then there is no coming back. Objects should, thus, only be recorded as destroyed if they are known to be so.

Objects are destroyed by events that are not carried out by an actor are modeled with the EndOfExistence class. However if the destruction is carried out by some actor, then it is also an Activity at the same time. This extra class must be added explicitly, and is a different model from Production which is always an Activity.

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json", 
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/activity/85", 
  "type": "Destruction", 
  "timespan": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/time/21", 
    "type": "TimeSpan", 
    "begin_of_the_begin": "1823-03-01T00:00:00Z", 
    "end_of_the_end": "1823-03-31T00:00:00Z"
  }, 
  "destroyed": {
    "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/92", 
    "type": "ManMadeObject", 
    "label": "Example Destroyed Painting", 
    "classified_as": [
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618", 
        "type": "Type", 
        "label": "Painting"
      }, 
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025", 
        "type": "Type", 
        "label": "Artwork"
      }
    ]
  }
}

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