Physical Objects

Introduction

The Physical Object API is a method of getting access to descriptions of physical objects, such as paintings, sculptures, manuscripts or other tangible artworks. The physical objects that carry the artwork content are a core part of any Linked Art information system, and thus the descriptions are likely to have a substantial amount of fields and data. This results in a relatively long set of relationships and properties, but they follow the typical patterns and constructions.

For more information about the Physical Object data, please see the Object model description.

Properties of Physical Objects

Additional Properties of Acquisitions

The properties of Activities are available for Acquistion, along with the following:

Property Diagram

JSON Schema

See the schema documentation and the schema itself

Incoming Properties

Physical Object instances are typically found as the object of the following properties, other than the self-referential properties above. This list is not exhaustive, but is intended to cover the likely cases where other endpoints refer to physical objects.

Example

The JSON for a Physical Object entry for the Mona Lisa could be as below.

• It has the Linked Art context document reference in @context
• It self-documents its URI in id
• It has a type of "HumanMadeObject"
• It has a _label with the value "Mona Lisa" for people reading the JSON
• It is classified_as ...
  • ... a "Painting", which has an id of "aat:300033618", which is in turn classified as a "Type of Work" ("aat:300435443")
  • ... a "Work of Art, which as an id of "aat:300111159"
• It is identified_by ...
  • ... a Name, with the content "Mona Lisa", language of English ("aat:300388277"), and classified_as a Primary Name (for English)
  • ... a Name, with the content "La Joconde", and language of French ("aat:300388306"), and classified_as a Primary Name (for French)
  • ... a Name, with the content "La Gioconda", and language of Italian ("aat:300388474"), and again classified_as a Primary Name (for Italian)
  • ... an Identifier, with the content "INV. 779", and classified_as an Accession Number ("aat:300312355")
• It is referred_to_by a statement which ...
  • ... has content of "This portrait was doubtless started in Florence around 1503 ..."
  • ... is classified_as a Description ("aat:300435416")
• It has two dimension entries ...
  • ... a Height ("aat:300055644") of 0.77 meters ("aat:300379099")
  • ... a Width ("aat:300055647") of 0.53 meters ("aat:300379099")
• It is made_of two Materials ...
  • ... Poplar ("aat:300012363")
  • ... and Oil Paint ("aat:300015050")
• It is equivalent to the Wikidata entity "Q12418"
• It has a current_owner of The Louvre museum (a Group)
• It has a current_location of the gallery (a Place) in the museum (which would be another Place, not the same entity as the Group)
• It shows the very famous visual content
• It was produced_by a Production which ...
  • ... was carried_out_by Leonardo da Vinci
  • ... took_place_at Florence, Italy
  • ... occured in a timespan between "1503-01-01" and "1506-12-31"

{
  "@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
  "id": "https://linked.art/example/object/0",
  "type": "HumanMadeObject",
  "_label": "Mona Lisa",
  "classified_as": [
    {
      "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300033618",
      "type": "Type",
      "_label": "Painting",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435443",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Type of Work"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300133025",
      "type": "Type",
      "_label": "Artwork"
    }
  ],
  "identified_by": [
    {
      "type": "Name",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Primary Name"
        }
      ],
      "content": "Mona Lisa",
      "language": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300388277",
          "type": "Language",
          "_label": "English"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Name",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Primary Name"
        }
      ],
      "content": "La Joconde",
      "language": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300388306",
          "type": "Language",
          "_label": "French"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Name",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Primary Name"
        }
      ],
      "content": "La Gioconda",
      "language": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300388474",
          "type": "Language",
          "_label": "Italian"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Identifier",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300312355",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Accession Number"
        }
      ],
      "content": "INV. 779"
    }
  ],
  "referred_to_by": [
    {
      "type": "LinguisticObject",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Description",
          "classified_as": [
            {
              "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300418049",
              "type": "Type",
              "_label": "Brief Text"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "content": "This portrait was doubtless started in Florence around 1503. It is thought to be of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant ..."
    }
  ],
  "dimension": [
    {
      "type": "Dimension",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300055644",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Height"
        }
      ],
      "value": 0.77,
      "unit": {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300379099",
        "type": "MeasurementUnit",
        "_label": "meters"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Dimension",
      "classified_as": [
        {
          "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300055647",
          "type": "Type",
          "_label": "Width"
        }
      ],
      "value": 0.53,
      "unit": {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300379099",
        "type": "MeasurementUnit",
        "_label": "meters"
      }
    }
  ],
  "made_of": [
    {
      "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300012363",
      "type": "Material",
      "_label": "Poplar (wood)"
    },
    {
      "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300015050",
      "type": "Material",
      "_label": "Oil Paint"
    }
  ],
  "member_of": [
    {
      "type": "Set",
      "_label": "Most expensive paintings in the world"
    },
    {
      "id": "http://data.louvre.example/all_holdings",
      "type": "Set",
      "_label": "Holdings of the Louvre"
    }
  ],
  "shows": [
    {
      "id": "http://data.louvre.example/visual/mona_lisa",
      "type": "VisualItem",
      "_label": "Visual Work of the Mona Lisa"
    }
  ],
  "equivalent": [
    {
      "id": "http://wikidata.org/entity/Q12418",
      "type": "HumanMadeObject",
      "_label": "Mona Lisa"
    }
  ],
  "current_owner": [
    {
      "id": "http://louvre.fr/",
      "type": "Group",
      "_label": "The Louvre"
    }
  ],
  "current_location": {
    "id": "http://galleries.example/louvre/711",
    "type": "Place",
    "_label": "Room 711, Denon Wing, The Louvre, Paris"
  },
  "produced_by": {
    "type": "Production",
    "timespan": {
      "type": "TimeSpan",
      "identified_by": [
        {
          "type": "Name",
          "classified_as": [
            {
              "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404669",
              "type": "Type",
              "_label": "Display Title"
            }
          ],
          "content": "1503-1506"
        }
      ],
      "begin_of_the_begin": "1503-01-01T00:00:00Z",
      "end_of_the_end": "1506-12-31T23:59:59Z"
    },
    "took_place_at": [
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7000457",
        "type": "Place",
        "_label": "Florence, Italy"
      }
    ],
    "carried_out_by": [
      {
        "id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/ulan/500010879",
        "type": "Person",
        "_label": "Leonardo da Vinci"
      }
    ]
  }
}