Provenance Provenance Provenance (from the French "provenir", 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, paleontology, archives, manuscripts, printed books and science and computing. The primary purpose of tracing the provenance of an object or entity is normally to provide contextual and circumstantial evidence for its original production or discovery, by establishing, as far as practicable, its later history, especially the sequences of its formal ownership,
Provenance also be shipping labels. In the BBC TV programme "Fake or Fortune?" the provenance of the painting "Bords de la Seine à Argenteuil" was investigated using a gallery sticker and shipping label on the back. Early provenance can sometimes be indicated by a "cartellino" (a representation of an inscribed label) added to the front of a painting. However, these can be forged, or can fade or be painted over. Auction records are an important resource to assist in researching the provenance of paintings. If a painting has been in private hands for an extended period and on display in a