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PROVENANCE RESEARCH

Collection Info
PROVENANCE RESEARCH

View all works covered by the Provenance Research Project

As part of its mission, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University conducts and publishes research on the art in its collections. One important component of that research is the documentation of a work's provenance, or previous history of ownership before it was acquired by the museum. In December 1999 the American Association of Museums (AAM) issued its Guidelines Concerning the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era, asking museums to identify works in their collections with incomplete provenances for the years 1933 to 1945. During this period many artworks were unlawfully seized by the Nazis from public and private collections. The Nasher Museum participates in the AAM’s provenance website, the Nazi-Era Provenance Information Portal (NEPIP.org). The Nasher Museum also subscribes to the Art Loss Register (www.artloss.com) and regularly uploads information on works in the museum's collections with incomplete provenances.

The Nasher Museum’s aim is to compile all known provenance information for works in its collection created before 1946, transferred after 1932 and before 1946, and which were, or could have been, in continental Europe during the Nazi Era. This information will be posted on this site.

Gaps in provenance are common and do not in themselves constitute evidence of looting from archeological sites or seizure by the Nazis. It is often the case that records do not survive from half a century ago. Provenance research is an ongoing process, and the Nasher Museum welcomes any information that the public has on the ownership history of works in its collections.

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Transenna panel
Italian
900–1100 CE
Marble
1966.1.1
Impost capital
Italian
8th century–9th century
Marble
1966.2.1
Half-Length Figure of a Saint
Greek
16th century–17th century
Fresco
1966.7.1
Transenna Panel
Central Italy
c. 800–850 CE
Marble
1966.11.1
Foliate Column Capital
Italian
c. 11th century
Marble
1966.13.1
Female Figure with Basket
Coptic
5th century–6th century
Encaustic on wood
1966.15.1
Two putti
Coptic
5th century–6th century CE
Encaustic on wood
1966.15.2
Rosette
Coptic
5th century–6th century
Encaustic on wood
1966.15.3
Painted Decoration
Coptic
5th century–6th century
Encaustic on wood
1966.15.4
Wine jar
Coptic
5th Century (?)
Terracotta
1966.17.1
Reliquary Bust of Saint Andrew
Northern French
late 15th century
Oak, with traces of polychrome and gilding
1966.18.1
Saint Rictrudis
French
13th century–15th century
Polychrome and gilding on wood
1966.19.1
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