Provenance research today: principles, practice, problems

This is the first accessible reference handbook to cover key aspects of provenance research for the international art market. It guides the reader from a basic introduction to research methods to questions of ethics and the challenges of specific case histories and contexts. Provenance research is a crucial component of any art-market transaction. Without a provenance it is often difficult to establish a work's authenticity, its true value, or who has legal title. Whether buying, selling, or simply maintaining an artwork in either a private or a public collection, the days when a blind eye could be turned to the history (or the lack of a known history) of a work have long gone. Proper, thorough, and effective provenance research is the minimum required and demanded in today's art world--a world that is increasingly recognizing the need for greater and more effective self-regulation in the face of fakes, forgeries, and challenges to ownership or authenticity that are now commonplace. "The Provenance Research Handbook" is the essential reference tool for anyone involved in the art world, including provenance researchers, owners, or would-be owners, sellers of artworks, galleries, auction houses, collectors, dealers, museums, galleries, police, and art lawyers.

Part 1. The history, purpose and challenges of provenance research: The History and purposes of provenance research / Arthur Tompkins -- The role of provenance in resolving art-world disputes / Leila Amineddoleh -- The challenges of provenance research / Sharon Flescher -- Part 2. Best practice in provenance research: Best-practice guidelines, research methods and tools / Marie Stolberg and Andrea Lehmann -- Scientific examination and provenance research: using science to resolve questions of provenance, identity ad false attribution / Jennifer L. Mass -- Data and databases in pronvenance research / Jason Sousa and Ariane Moser -- Provenance research in a digital age / Louisa Wood Ruby -- Part 3. Provenance research, museums and the art market: Provenance research in museums: the long run / Lynn Rother and Iris Schmeisser -- The place of provenance in the catalogue raisonné / Susan J. Cooke -- The ethics of provenance research and the art market / Gareth fletcher -- Part 4. Nazi-era provenance research: The Current state of Nazi-era provenance research and access to Nazi-era research resources and archives / Marc Masurovsky -- The journey home: Nazi-era provenance research and res…