Provenance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Provenance: from the French provenir, 'to come from', means the origin, or the source, of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object,[1] especially a work of art, or some object of value such as is found in archaeology, or paleontology, or some document, such as a manuscript, or even an item of literature in the broadest sense, including a first edition of a very rare published work. The primary purpose of provenance is to confirm the time, place, and if appropriate the person responsible, for the creation, production or discovery of the object. Comparative techniques, expert opinions, written and verbal records and the results of various kinds of scientific tests are often used to help establish provenance.