Table of Contents
Introduction
Many acquisitions are first long term loans, with a promise that ownership of the object will also be transferred after some conditions have been met. These promises are also typically enforced via a legal contract.
There might also be other promised activities, with or without a contract, that are valuable to document if known. This could include the promise to produce an artwork in exchange for money, typically called a commission.
Model Subject to Change
There is ongoing efforts to standardize how to describe social bonds between parties, activity plans that describe the conditions under which some activity would or did take place, and the management of ownership and other rights over time. The model presented here concerning promise activities has reduced fidelity compared to these efforts, and when they have stabilized, the modeling may be revised to take into account those new facilities.
There is a necessary vocabulary term, given the lack of a more explicit class to model activity plans or social bonds, in order to distinguish a Promise from any other activity.
- Promise: (aat:300435599) A promise that some future activity will be carried out.
Promised Gift
A promise of a gift (or sale, or exchange) is an Activity which is carried out by the promising party. It is a promise to some other actor to perform some further activity (the acquisition), however we lack the ontological machinery at the moment to make this explicit. Instead we can reference the promised party and the object being promised only via the more general properties of participant and used_specific_object respectively.
Further details and clarification about the promise, including any description of the contract, should be given in a descriptive note on the promise activity.
Example:
The owner of a painting promises to give it to a museum after a period of time.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/provenance/24",
"type": "Activity",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300055863",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Provenance Activity"
}
],
"part": [
{
"type": "Activity",
"_label": "Promise of Gift",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435599",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Promise"
}
],
"referred_to_by": [
{
"type": "LinguisticObject",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Description",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300418049",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Brief Text"
}
]
}
],
"content": "Contractual gift over time from Owner to be completed in 2032"
}
],
"carried_out_by": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Owner"
}
],
"used_specific_object": [
{
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Painting"
}
],
"participant": [
{
"type": "Group",
"_label": "Museum"
}
]
}
]
}
graph TD
classDef object stroke:black,fill:#E1BA9C,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef actor stroke:black,fill:#FFBDCA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef type stroke:red,fill:#FAB565,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef name stroke:orange,fill:#FEF3BA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef dims stroke:black,fill:#c6c6c6,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef infoobj stroke:#907010,fill:#fffa40,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef timespan stroke:blue,fill:#ddfffe,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef place stroke:#3a7a3a,fill:#aff090,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef event stroke:#1010FF,fill:#96e0f6,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef literal stroke:black,fill:#f0f0e0;
classDef classstyle stroke:black,fill:white;
O1(provenance24)
class O1 event;
O1-- type -->O1_0[Activity]
class O1_0 classstyle;
O2(aat:300055863)
class O2 type;
O2-- type -->O2_0[Type]
class O2_0 classstyle;
O2-- _label -->O2_3("''Provenance Activity''")
class O2_3 literal;
O1-- classified_as -->O2
O3( _ )
class O3 event;
O3-- type -->O3_0[Activity]
class O3_0 classstyle;
O3-- _label -->O3_2("''Promise of Gift''")
class O3_2 literal;
O4(aat:300435599)
class O4 type;
O4-- type -->O4_0[Type]
class O4_0 classstyle;
O4-- _label -->O4_3("''Promise''")
class O4_3 literal;
O3-- classified_as -->O4
O5( _ )
class O5 infoobj;
O5-- type -->O5_0[LinguisticObject]
class O5_0 classstyle;
O6(aat:300435416)
class O6 type;
O6-- type -->O6_0[Type]
class O6_0 classstyle;
O6-- _label -->O6_3("''Description''")
class O6_3 literal;
O7(aat:300418049)
class O7 type;
O7-- type -->O7_0[Type]
class O7_0 classstyle;
O7-- _label -->O7_3("''Brief Text''")
class O7_3 literal;
O6-- classified_as -->O7
O5-- classified_as -->O6
O5-- content -->O5_3("''Contractual gift over time from Owner to be completed in 2032''")
class O5_3 literal;
O3-- referred_to_by -->O5
O8( _ )
class O8 actor;
O8-- type -->O8_0[Person]
class O8_0 classstyle;
O8-- _label -->O8_2("''Owner''")
class O8_2 literal;
O3-- carried_out_by -->O8
O9( _ )
class O9 object;
O9-- type -->O9_0[HumanMadeObject]
class O9_0 classstyle;
O9-- _label -->O9_2("''Painting''")
class O9_2 literal;
O3-- used_specific_object -->O9
O10( _ )
class O10 actor;
O10-- type -->O10_0[Group]
class O10_0 classstyle;
O10-- _label -->O10_2("''Museum''")
class O10_2 literal;
O3-- participant -->O10
O1-- part -->O3
Other Representations: JSON-LD (raw) | JSON-LD (playground) | Turtle (raw) | Turtle (styled)
Commissions for Artwork
Another type of promise can occur even before the artwork is produced: a commission from a sponsor for the production of the work. This starts out with paired promises, where the artist promises to produce the work, and the commissioner promises to pay for it. There might be some amount of money paid to the artist in advance, or other transfers of custody or ownership of objects, such as lending something to the artist to produce a copy of. Given the potential for multiple exchanges of promises, money, and objects, the description of the commissioning activity fits cleanly into the broader Provenance Entry model.
The description of the production of the commissioned object is taken care of by the regular production pattern, as described in the object section. The subsequent transfer of title to the new owner, and the payment of any monies due to the artist is a second provenance entry following all of the regular patterns.
Example:
The commissioner of the art promises to pay $1000, with 10% of that up front, for a painting to be produced. This involves three steps: the exchange of promised activities, the production of the object, and then the exchange of the ownership of the produced painting for the remainder of the money.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/provenance/25",
"type": "Activity",
"_label": "Commission of Painting",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300055863",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Provenance Activity"
}
],
"part": [
{
"type": "Activity",
"_label": "Obligation to Pay Artist",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435599",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Promise"
}
],
"referred_to_by": [
{
"type": "LinguisticObject",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Description",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300418049",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Brief Text"
}
]
}
],
"content": "Promise to pay $1000 for a painting to be created by the artist, with 10% in advance"
}
],
"carried_out_by": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Commissioner"
}
],
"participant": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Artist"
}
]
},
{
"type": "Activity",
"_label": "Obligation to Produce Painting",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435599",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Promise"
}
],
"referred_to_by": [
{
"type": "LinguisticObject",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Description"
}
],
"content": "Promise to paint a landscape for the commissioning party"
}
],
"carried_out_by": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Artist"
}
],
"participant": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Commissioner"
}
]
},
{
"type": "Payment",
"_label": "Down Payment",
"paid_amount": {
"type": "MonetaryAmount",
"value": 100,
"currency": {
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300411994",
"type": "Currency",
"_label": "US Dollars"
}
},
"paid_from": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Commissioner"
}
],
"paid_to": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Artist"
}
]
}
]
}
graph TD
classDef object stroke:black,fill:#E1BA9C,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef actor stroke:black,fill:#FFBDCA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef type stroke:red,fill:#FAB565,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef name stroke:orange,fill:#FEF3BA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef dims stroke:black,fill:#c6c6c6,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef infoobj stroke:#907010,fill:#fffa40,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef timespan stroke:blue,fill:#ddfffe,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef place stroke:#3a7a3a,fill:#aff090,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef event stroke:#1010FF,fill:#96e0f6,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef literal stroke:black,fill:#f0f0e0;
classDef classstyle stroke:black,fill:white;
O1(provenance25)
class O1 event;
O1-- type -->O1_0[Activity]
class O1_0 classstyle;
O1-- _label -->O1_4("''Commission of Painting''")
class O1_4 literal;
O2(aat:300055863)
class O2 type;
O2-- type -->O2_0[Type]
class O2_0 classstyle;
O2-- _label -->O2_3("''Provenance Activity''")
class O2_3 literal;
O1-- classified_as -->O2
O3( _ )
class O3 event;
O3-- type -->O3_0[Activity]
class O3_0 classstyle;
O3-- _label -->O3_2("''Obligation to Pay Artist''")
class O3_2 literal;
O4(aat:300435599)
class O4 type;
O4-- type -->O4_0[Type]
class O4_0 classstyle;
O4-- _label -->O4_3("''Promise''")
class O4_3 literal;
O3-- classified_as -->O4
O5( _ )
class O5 infoobj;
O5-- type -->O5_0[LinguisticObject]
class O5_0 classstyle;
O6(aat:300435416)
class O6 type;
O6-- type -->O6_0[Type]
class O6_0 classstyle;
O6-- _label -->O6_3("''Description''")
class O6_3 literal;
O7(aat:300418049)
class O7 type;
O7-- type -->O7_0[Type]
class O7_0 classstyle;
O7-- _label -->O7_3("''Brief Text''")
class O7_3 literal;
O6-- classified_as -->O7
O5-- classified_as -->O6
O5-- content -->O5_3("''Promise to pay $1000 for a painting to be created by the artist, with 10% in advance''")
class O5_3 literal;
O3-- referred_to_by -->O5
O8( _ )
class O8 actor;
O8-- type -->O8_0[Person]
class O8_0 classstyle;
O8-- _label -->O8_2("''Commissioner''")
class O8_2 literal;
O3-- carried_out_by -->O8
O9( _ )
class O9 actor;
O9-- type -->O9_0[Person]
class O9_0 classstyle;
O9-- _label -->O9_2("''Artist''")
class O9_2 literal;
O3-- participant -->O9
O1-- part -->O3
O10( _ )
class O10 event;
O10-- type -->O10_0[Activity]
class O10_0 classstyle;
O10-- _label -->O10_2("''Obligation to Produce Painting''")
class O10_2 literal;
O10-- classified_as -->O4
O11( _ )
class O11 infoobj;
O11-- type -->O11_0[LinguisticObject]
class O11_0 classstyle;
O11-- classified_as -->O6
O11-- content -->O11_3("''Promise to paint a landscape for the commissioning party''")
class O11_3 literal;
O10-- referred_to_by -->O11
O12( _ )
class O12 actor;
O12-- type -->O12_0[Person]
class O12_0 classstyle;
O12-- _label -->O12_2("''Artist''")
class O12_2 literal;
O10-- carried_out_by -->O12
O13( _ )
class O13 actor;
O13-- type -->O13_0[Person]
class O13_0 classstyle;
O13-- _label -->O13_2("''Commissioner''")
class O13_2 literal;
O10-- participant -->O13
O1-- part -->O10
O14( _ )
class O14 event;
O14-- type -->O14_0[Payment]
class O14_0 classstyle;
O14-- _label -->O14_2("''Down Payment''")
class O14_2 literal;
O15( _ )
class O15 dims;
O15-- type -->O15_0[MonetaryAmount]
class O15_0 classstyle;
O15-- value -->O15_2(100)
class O15_2 literal;
O16(aat:300411994)
class O16 type;
O16-- type -->O16_0[Currency]
class O16_0 classstyle;
O16-- _label -->O16_3("''US Dollars''")
class O16_3 literal;
O15-- currency -->O16
O14-- paid_amount -->O15
O17( _ )
class O17 actor;
O17-- type -->O17_0[Person]
class O17_0 classstyle;
O17-- _label -->O17_2("''Commissioner''")
class O17_2 literal;
O14-- paid_from -->O17
O18( _ )
class O18 actor;
O18-- type -->O18_0[Person]
class O18_0 classstyle;
O18-- _label -->O18_2("''Artist''")
class O18_2 literal;
O14-- paid_to -->O18
O1-- part -->O14
Other Representations: JSON-LD (raw) | JSON-LD (playground) | Turtle (raw) | Turtle (styled)
The resulting production activity has a cause, which is the above Provenance Event.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/71",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Commissioned Landscape Painting",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Painting",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435443",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Type of Work"
}
]
}
],
"referred_to_by": [
{
"type": "LinguisticObject",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Description",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300418049",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Brief Text"
}
]
}
],
"content": "A commissioned painting by Artist"
}
]
}
graph TD
classDef object stroke:black,fill:#E1BA9C,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef actor stroke:black,fill:#FFBDCA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef type stroke:red,fill:#FAB565,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef name stroke:orange,fill:#FEF3BA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef dims stroke:black,fill:#c6c6c6,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef infoobj stroke:#907010,fill:#fffa40,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef timespan stroke:blue,fill:#ddfffe,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef place stroke:#3a7a3a,fill:#aff090,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef event stroke:#1010FF,fill:#96e0f6,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef literal stroke:black,fill:#f0f0e0;
classDef classstyle stroke:black,fill:white;
O1(object71)
class O1 object;
O1-- type -->O1_0[HumanMadeObject]
class O1_0 classstyle;
O1-- _label -->O1_4("''Commissioned Landscape Painting''")
class O1_4 literal;
O2(aat:300033618)
class O2 type;
O2-- type -->O2_0[Type]
class O2_0 classstyle;
O2-- _label -->O2_3("''Painting''")
class O2_3 literal;
O3(aat:300435443)
class O3 type;
O3-- type -->O3_0[Type]
class O3_0 classstyle;
O3-- _label -->O3_3("''Type of Work''")
class O3_3 literal;
O2-- classified_as -->O3
O1-- classified_as -->O2
O4( _ )
class O4 infoobj;
O4-- type -->O4_0[LinguisticObject]
class O4_0 classstyle;
O5(aat:300435416)
class O5 type;
O5-- type -->O5_0[Type]
class O5_0 classstyle;
O5-- _label -->O5_3("''Description''")
class O5_3 literal;
O6(aat:300418049)
class O6 type;
O6-- type -->O6_0[Type]
class O6_0 classstyle;
O6-- _label -->O6_3("''Brief Text''")
class O6_3 literal;
O5-- classified_as -->O6
O4-- classified_as -->O5
O4-- content -->O4_3("''A commissioned painting by Artist''")
class O4_3 literal;
O1-- referred_to_by -->O4
Other Representations: JSON-LD (raw) | JSON-LD (playground) | Turtle (raw) | Turtle (styled)
And finally the painting is delivered to the commissioning party from the artist in exchange for the remainder of the money.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/provenance/26",
"type": "Activity",
"_label": "Delivery of Painting",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300055863",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Provenance Activity"
}
],
"part": [
{
"type": "Acquisition",
"transferred_title_of": [
{
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Painting"
}
],
"transferred_title_from": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Artist"
}
],
"transferred_title_to": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Commissioner"
}
]
},
{
"type": "Payment",
"_label": "Payment",
"paid_amount": {
"type": "MonetaryAmount",
"value": 900,
"currency": {
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300411994",
"type": "Currency",
"_label": "US Dollars"
}
},
"paid_from": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Commissioner"
}
],
"paid_to": [
{
"type": "Person",
"_label": "Artist"
}
]
}
]
}
graph TD
classDef object stroke:black,fill:#E1BA9C,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef actor stroke:black,fill:#FFBDCA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef type stroke:red,fill:#FAB565,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef name stroke:orange,fill:#FEF3BA,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef dims stroke:black,fill:#c6c6c6,rx:20px,ry:20px;
classDef infoobj stroke:#907010,fill:#fffa40,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef timespan stroke:blue,fill:#ddfffe,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef place stroke:#3a7a3a,fill:#aff090,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef event stroke:#1010FF,fill:#96e0f6,rx:20px,ry:20px
classDef literal stroke:black,fill:#f0f0e0;
classDef classstyle stroke:black,fill:white;
O1(provenance26)
class O1 event;
O1-- type -->O1_0[Activity]
class O1_0 classstyle;
O1-- _label -->O1_4("''Delivery of Painting''")
class O1_4 literal;
O2(aat:300055863)
class O2 type;
O2-- type -->O2_0[Type]
class O2_0 classstyle;
O2-- _label -->O2_3("''Provenance Activity''")
class O2_3 literal;
O1-- classified_as -->O2
O3( _ )
class O3 event;
O3-- type -->O3_0[Acquisition]
class O3_0 classstyle;
O4( _ )
class O4 object;
O4-- type -->O4_0[HumanMadeObject]
class O4_0 classstyle;
O4-- _label -->O4_2("''Painting''")
class O4_2 literal;
O3-- transferred_title_of -->O4
O5( _ )
class O5 actor;
O5-- type -->O5_0[Person]
class O5_0 classstyle;
O5-- _label -->O5_2("''Artist''")
class O5_2 literal;
O3-- transferred_title_from -->O5
O6( _ )
class O6 actor;
O6-- type -->O6_0[Person]
class O6_0 classstyle;
O6-- _label -->O6_2("''Commissioner''")
class O6_2 literal;
O3-- transferred_title_to -->O6
O1-- part -->O3
O7( _ )
class O7 event;
O7-- type -->O7_0[Payment]
class O7_0 classstyle;
O7-- _label -->O7_2("''Payment''")
class O7_2 literal;
O8( _ )
class O8 dims;
O8-- type -->O8_0[MonetaryAmount]
class O8_0 classstyle;
O8-- value -->O8_2(900)
class O8_2 literal;
O9(aat:300411994)
class O9 type;
O9-- type -->O9_0[Currency]
class O9_0 classstyle;
O9-- _label -->O9_3("''US Dollars''")
class O9_3 literal;
O8-- currency -->O9
O7-- paid_amount -->O8
O10( _ )
class O10 actor;
O10-- type -->O10_0[Person]
class O10_0 classstyle;
O10-- _label -->O10_2("''Commissioner''")
class O10_2 literal;
O7-- paid_from -->O10
O11( _ )
class O11 actor;
O11-- type -->O11_0[Person]
class O11_0 classstyle;
O11-- _label -->O11_2("''Artist''")
class O11_2 literal;
O7-- paid_to -->O11
O1-- part -->O7
Other Representations: JSON-LD (raw) | JSON-LD (playground) | Turtle (raw) | Turtle (styled)