Skip to content
Glossary

Provenance

The documented history of an artwork's origin, ownership, and custody over time.

Provenance is the record of where an artwork came from and everywhere it has been since — who made it, who has owned it, and where it has been exhibited or stored. A strong, unbroken provenance is one of the clearest signals that a work is genuine and that its attribution can be trusted.

On Attesian, provenance begins the moment the artist registers a work and is only ever added to. Each event — a sale, a loan, an exhibition, a change of owner — becomes a new entry in a history that cannot be quietly rewritten, so the story a buyer sees is the same story everyone else sees.