Categories for the Description of Works of Art

DEFINITION

A description of distinguishing or identifying physical markings, lettering, annotations, texts, or labels that are part of a work or are affixed, applied, stamped, written, inscribed, or attached to the work, excluding any mark or text inherent in materials; record watermarks in the Watermarks (7.8) subcategory.

SUBCATEGORIES

8.1. Inscription Transcription or Description
8.2. Inscription Type
8.3. Inscription Author
8.4. Inscription Location
8.5. Inscription Language
8.6. Typeface/Letterform
8.7. Mark Identification
8.8. Inscription Date
- 8.8.1. Earliest Date
- 8.8.2. Latest Date
8.9. Remarks
8.10. Citations
- 8.10.1. Page
Examples

GENERAL DISCUSSION

This category includes all words, numbers, symbols, stamps, and marks applied to the object during or after its creation, whether by the artist or architect, his/her agent, or an owner or other later hand. It includes inscribed signatures, dates of execution, scale, explanatory texts, and other remarks. It also includes texts that are considered part of the art work, such as calligraphy in a Chinese painting, text on a medieval manuscript page, or text written on a statue, as on the scroll held in the hand of a Romanesque sculpted prophet. Watermarks and other marks inherent in the materials should be recorded and indexed in Watermarks (7.8).

Specificity and Exhaustivity

A precise transcription or a prose description of the inscription is important to provide clarity and explain unusual features of the inscription. The information in this transcription should then be indexed in other subcategories as appropriate (e.g., inscribed date should be recorded in Creation Date (4.2)); this makes it possible to formulate queries about types of inscriptions and their authors, as well as their locations, dates, and scripts.

When transcribing an inscription, care should be taken to transcribe the inscription as it is written, with little or no subjective interpretation. While inscriptions, stamps, marks, labels, annotations, graffito, and other texts found on a work may provide information that may improve understanding of a work, their interpretation is often disputed. An accurate transcription or description is critical to the use of an inscription as evidence. All explanatory text that accompanies the inscription (e.g., the location or medium) should be clearly distinguished from the transcription. For example, editorial text could be separated from the transcription by using a colon (e.g., signed lower right, below the image: A. Kertész; inscribed by the artist lower right: Paris [Figure 12]).

When an inscription or mark is documented, the following characteristics are important: Who made it; the way in which it was made (materials and technique); its location on the object; and an indication of what the inscription says or what the mark looks like. This may include a transcription, transliteration (if it is not in the Roman alphabet), description, or translation. Remarks about the significance of an inscription or mark, and citations to any sources used to identify or describe an inscription or mark, can also be recorded. This category is also used to record the content of works that are primarily textual.

Note that the information found in an inscription is not always accurate. Often signatures, such as those on a number of works purported to be by Rembrandt, were added later. Inscribed dates, such as those on Corot’s prints, may not reflect the actual date of the printing. Inscriptions may also be difficult to decipher. For example, Joseph Hecht’s inscription “1:2” means something different from impression number or scale, which would typically be expressed in a similar way as 1/2. The location of an inscription may give it meaning, as is the case of the Gray collection at Harvard. The colophon in a manuscript may be copied in later editions without regard for its accuracy. Inscriptions may have been added to works at sales, such as the Degas estate sale, or by dealers, such as stock numbers or coded prices.

Inscriptions and marks are transcribed during a detailed examination of the object. They may also have been transcribed and published elsewhere. Secondary or primary research sources may have to be consulted to identify the purpose and origin of certain types of inscriptions, such as an inscribed lot number from a sale.

Cataloging rules

For the subcategories in this section, basic recommendations and discussion are provided below. For a fuller, more prescriptive set of cataloging rules for some of the subcategories, see “Chapter 3: Physical Characteristics” in Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), which deals with a critical subset of the CDWA.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

Inscriptions and marks are important aids in authenticating a work or object. They also assist in interpretation and dating, and provide information about a work’s history. Inscriptions may also help to identify the subject or purpose of a work of art or architecture. Marks and inscriptions can provide clues to the provenance of a work and the history of its use by establishing relationships between works. For example, works that were all in the same collection sometimes bear the same collector’s mark. Works that were all in the same sketchbook may have consecutive numbering in the same hand. Metalwork often bears an identifiable hallmark, and similar seals may link various scrolls.

Researchers will primarily be interested in reading an accurate transcription of the inscription, along with explanatory text. When researchers wish to query indexed information contained in the inscription, they will search mainly by the author’s name or inscription type, in combination with other characteristics of a work. This would make it possible to identify, for example, all drawings signed by David, or all paintings signed by Velázquez. Specialists may wish to search a defined set of works, such as drawings from a certain date, for inscriptions in a certain medium or location, to find, for example, all works bearing a particular seal of Ito Jakuchu. ¹

Identifying numbers, such as model numbers and serial numbers, should also be recorded in Creation Numbers (4.6). Watermarks are treated as a characteristic of the material used as a support and, if they are mentioned in Inscriptions/Marks (8), they should also be recorded in Watermarks (7.8). Inscriptions or marks found on an object may also provide information recorded in Creation Description (4.1); Commissioner (4.5); Creation Date (4.2); Subject Matter (16); Context (17); State (9); Ownership/Collecting History (23); and other categories.

8.1. Inscription Transcription or Description

DEFINITION

The transcription or description of the content of the inscription, mark, or text. This transcription or description should include the material or medium in which the inscription, mark, or text was executed; its support, if it is on a separate piece affixed to the object; the method by which the inscription, mark, or text was produced; and a brief description of the content or appearance of the inscription or mark.

EXAMPLES

signed and dated lower left: 1505 / AD [monogram] [Figure 15]
signed lower left below the image: A Kertész; inscribed by the artist lower right: Paris [Figure 12]
inscribed in frame: ECCE ANCILLA DOMINI FIAT MIHI SECUNDUM VERBUM TUU[M]; words projecting from angel’s mouth: AVE GRATIA PLENA DOM [INUS TECUM]; text from Isaiah 7:14 is inscribed on book held by the Virgin [Figure 28]
inscribed by the artist, right to left across the top, in brown ink: jicipit liber. endaborum. assauasorda. judeo inebraicho coposit[us] et a platone / tiburtinj inlatin sermone translat[us] anno. arabu. dx. mse sap h ar / capi tulu pimu ingeometrice arihmetice (p) vnyversalia proposita: franco. o dif. [referring to a geometry book by Abraham bar Hiyya Savasorda in library of San Marco, Florence]; bottom left corner, collection mark of Sir Thomas Lawrence: L.2445 [Figure 30a] [Figure 30b]
stamped under the back seat rail: IAVISSE [for Jean Avisse] [Figure 14]
lid is painted with monogram and coat of arms of 8th daughter of Louis XV of France, Madame Louise; bowl is marked on bottom with painter’s mark of Méraud père and the date letter “L” (for the year 1764) [Figure 1]
Latin text in Carolingian minuscule, arranged in columns of 20 lines [Figure 31a] [Figure 31b]
“I didn’t take no stereos”;/ “You are in North America when you don’t know where you are”;/ “Why don’t you go back to where you come from?” ²
Within the floral wreath, the plate is embossed with the letters ‘QR’ under a crown, with the marking ‘1st AMN’.³

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record an exact transcription or accurate transliteration of an inscription, or a description of a mark found on a work.

All marks or written words added to the object at the time of production or in its subsequent history should be noted, including signatures, dates, dedications, texts, and colophons, as well as marks, such as the stamps of silversmiths, publishers, or printers. Inscriptions, marks, or annotations found on any secondary support, mat, mount, frame, or plaque adjacent to the work or on paper or other types of labels attached to the work may also be described here. Record watermarks and other marks inherent in the materials in Watermarks (7.8).

Among the various types of inscriptions, it is a priority to record signatures, dates, and inscribed titles. Inscribed titles should be recorded in Titles or Names (3), but they may be repeated or recorded in fuller form in Inscriptions/Marks (8).

Form and Syntax

Record an indication of the nature and position of the inscription (e.g., lower center, recto, or verso) if known, followed by a colon, and then the accurate transcription of the inscribed text. Record the transcription so that it accurately reflects case and abbreviations of the inscription on the work. Indicate missing or illegible text with ellipses, question marks, or other conventional notation. Fill in abbreviated text if necessary for clarity, but place all editorial additions in square brackets to distinguish them from the actual transcription. Indicate line breaks with a forward slash.

The transcription may be accompanied by additional explanatory information or a translation. Use brackets for any editorial comment that appears after the colon in the body of the transcription. Use a semi-colon to separate descriptions of multiple inscriptions. For descriptive text (e.g., signed and dated), avoid abbreviations and use lower case. Signatures and dates should be clearly distinguished from other inscriptions. Examples of terminology for editorial comments include the following:

For type of inscription: signed, dated, titled, maker’s mark, colophon, collector’s mark, impressed, graffito, not inscribed.
For the location on the work: lower right; upper center verso; below the left handle; within printing plate.
For typeface/letterform: Helvetica 9 pt bold, open letters, Carolingian minuscule, rustic capitals, dotted delta.

Note unusual or important features, such as when the medium is unusual or different from that of the image; when an artist’s name is not a signature; when the signature is in the plate rather than on the sheet of a print; when a date is incorrect, etc. Clearly indicate any uncertainty. Use words such as probably when scholarly opinion varies or the transcription is uncertain.

If the cataloger or a source has translated the text from the original language (e.g., if the original text is in a non-Roman alphabet), clearly indicate the translation by placing it in brackets.

If it is not possible to transcribe a lengthy inscription, describe or characterize it. In the case of groups, volumes, and heavily inscribed items, inscriptions may be summarized. For example, a complex Chinese scroll may have many seals; rather than transcribe or describe each one, it may be preferable to indicate seals present and list the names of the collectors represented. Describe stamps or other marks according to their shape and motifs.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Free text: This is not a controlled field. However, transcriptions, lacunae, illegible words, line breaks, etc. should be indicated in a consistent way.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

Index any important information in the inscription in the other subcategories of the Inscriptions/Marks (8) category, as well as in Titles or Names (3), Creation (4), or any other appropriate category. It should be possible to do word searches on the text of the inscription. Researchers may wish to find all works, for example, where the artist is Rembrandt but the signature is in a later hand, or where a specific Mayan glyph appears.