Collecting and Provenance

Jane Milosch directs the Smithsonian Institution’s Provenance Research Exchange Program, and was founding director of the Provenance Research Initiative (SPRI), which focused on WWII-era provenance research, international cultural heritage, and training programs. She previously served as Senior Program Officer for Art, leading pan-institutional programs and strategic planning efforts, and was appointed the U.S. Representative to Germany’s “Schwabing Art Trove” Task Force. She has held curatorial positions at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. and in Detroit, Iowa, and Munich, Germany, and is an Honorary Professor in the School of Culture & Creative Arts, University of Glasgow. She was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2020.Nick Pearce holds the Sir John Richmond Chair of Fine Art at the University of Glasgow, and specializes in the arts of China, most particularly in the context of the history of collecting. His career has spanned both museums and universities, as he has held positions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, and at Durham and Edinburgh universities. He joined the University of Glasgow in 1998, where he has held the positions of Head of History of Art and Head of the School of Culture & Creative Arts, and is a Smithsonian Research Associate.

• ForewordLynn H. Nicholas, Independent ScholarPrefaceRichard Kurin, Smithsonian InstitutionIntroduction AcknowledgementsNick Pearce, University of Glasgow, and Jane C. Milosch, Smithsonian Institution Provenance: Past and Future Challenges1.The Provenance of ProvenancesChristian Huemer, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere2.Intellectual Property and Ownership HistoryChristel H. Force, The Metropolitan Museum of Art3.Provenance Research in Museums: From the Back of the House to the FrontJane C. Milosch and Andrea Hull, Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative (SPRI)4.Transforming Research Methodologies: The Frick Art Reference Library’s Collaborative ApproachLouisa Wood Ruby and Samantha Deutch, The Frick Art Reference Library5.Digging in Digital Archives: Recovering Context for the Getty Museum’s Orpheus MosaicNicole Budrovich, J. Paul Getty Museum6.Exhibiting Provenance in the University Museum: A Case StudyNancy Karrels, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign7.Provenance in 2050David Newbury, J. Paul Getty Trust, and Louise Lippincott, Carnegie Museum of ArtObjects in Motion8.Provenance as Palimpsest: The Mazarin VenusJudith Barr, J. Paul Getty Museum9.Archaeology, Fakery, and Lunacy: N.S. Brown's Chinese Neolithic CollectionNick Pearce, University of Glasgow10.The Importance of Provenance in Nineteenth-Century Paris and Beyond: Four Works of Art from Prince Pierre Soltykoff’s Famed Collection of Medieval ArtChristine E. Brennan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art11.The Medieval Bury Chest: Mapping the Journey from Durham Cathedral to the Burrell Collection, GlasgowElizabeth Hancock, University of Glasgow; Erma Hermens, Rijksmuseum; and Lindsay Gordon, Glasgow Museums 12.Plunder, Dissolution, and Dodgy Dealing: The International Market for Spanish Art in the Nineteenth CenturyHilary Macartney, University of Glasgow, and Véronique Gerard Powell, Paris-Sorbonne Université13.Documenting the Violin Trade in Paris: The Archives of Albert Caressa and Émile Français, 1930-1945Carla Shapreau, University of California, Berkeley; Jean-Philippe Échard and Christine Laloue, Musée de la musique, Paris14.Twice Plundered, and Still Far from Home: Tracing Nazi-Looted Books in Minsk and MoscowPatricia Kennedy Grimsted, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University Museums and Collection Formation: Provenancing Art and Nature15.Lost and Found: Reestablishing Provenance for an Entire Museum CollectionAnn McMullen and Maria Galban, National Museum of the American Indian16.Thomas Pattinson Yeats (1746–1782), Naturalist: Connecting Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, and William HunterE. Geoffrey Hancock, University of Glasgow17.A Kato Mosi Kaka and Other Tongan Treasures from the United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) in the Smithsonian InstitutionAdrienne L. Kaeppler, National Museum of Natural History18.Provenance and Place in Indigenous AustraliaGaye Sculthorpe, British Museum19.Pursuing Provenance: Perspectives on the Arts of Africa Christine Mullen Kreamer, National Museum of African Art20.One Object, Three Histories: Provenancing the DromedaryLouise Lippincott, Carnegie Museum of Art21.Forest GoldEdward J. Bronikowski, Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park Conservation Biology InstituteProvenance and Collecting Policies: Practical, Legal, and Ethical Challenges22.A Voyage into the Half-known: Museum Ethics in the Early Twentieth CenturyPetra Winter, Staatliche Museen, and Carola Thielecke, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz23.Forgotten Language of the Ledger: Signaling Ownership, Authority, and Provenance with Museum Accession StatusJoshua Gorman, National Museum of American History24.The Holy Family on an Unholy Odyssey: Legal Ownership of Stolen Trophy ArtChrista Roodt, University of Glasgow25.Problems, Practices, and Politics of Provenancing Objects from China’s YuanmingyuanLouise Tythacott, University of London26.Crisis Response and Beyond: The National Gallery of Australia’s Asian Art Provenance Project and Other New InitiativesBronwyn Campbell, National Gallery of Australia27.Antiquities Trafficking and the Provenance ProblemDonna Yates and Emiline Smith, University of Glasgow28.Before, During, and After: Documenting Museum Collections in Times of Crisis and DisasterBrian I. Daniels and Corine Wegener, Smithsonian Cultural Rescue InitiativeEndnotesIndexAbout the Contributors

This impressively diverse collection of essays considers the far-reaching applications of provenance research in a truly global context. The title, Collecting and Provenance: A Multidisciplinary Approach, is an understatement: 28 essays written by 40 authors, including case studies on such sundry topics as African art, violins in Paris, and taxidermy dromedaries. Interspersed between these broad-ranging case studies are essays on the significant challenges confronting the field of provenance research in the coming years: technological complexities, the need for stronger international collaboration, and the difficulties inherent in ethically managing collections today that were assembled with the moral code of the past. The result is a comprehensive review of what has and is being done in the field of provenance research, and what remains to be done in the future. Editors Jane Milosch and Nick Pearce unite their experience working on provenance issues in both museums and universities to produce a volume that is particularly useful in a pedagogical context, but also includes many of the captivating stories behind the research.