The Curious Case of Art Provenance & Blockchain
The provenance system has been a crucial concept in the art industry for Centuries. The influence and clear ownership record of previous owners, whether from museums or private collectors, plays a vital role in determining the price and value of an artwork.
In the western world, the traditional types of documenting provenance include original gallery sales receipt or receipt directly from the artist, appraisal’s opinion, illustration in an exhibition catalog from a museum or gallery or in an auction catalog. While in the eastern world, an easier method of sealing to record was adopted back in the 4th century in China.
FRESCO is aiming to combine these two methods in recording artworks’ provenance and adding the value of art through additional monetary contribution. As the world’s first blockchain art trust distribution network, FRESCO uses blockchain technology to build a dynamic platform that combines the ideas of treasure binding on medieval gospel and commentary on Chinese traditionally ink painting.
A Chinese seal is a seal or stamp containing Chinese characters to prove identity on art with authorship. The storage seals, sometimes called appreciation seal that used on paintings, are kept by the collectors to prove their ownership of paintings and show these paintings to their admirers. The storage seal can be broadly divided into two categories: one is a seal for the appreciation, approval, and collection of paintings and calligraphies; the other is a seal for the collection of books and books. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, the same painting and calligraphy through the collection of successive collections of collectors may be covered in a large number of the seal, the formation of an orderly seal system — the seal, it became the authentic element painting. According to historical records, the earliest storage/appreciation seal appeared in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317–420), but the earliest seal we can see today was produced in the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
Identification of Collection and the process of adding seal on a painting provide a lot of help on its provenance. First, it can be used to prove the circulation of paintings. Arrange the collector’s era; we can find out it is passing through the past. Second, there are several connoisseurs, such as Yuan Shu of the Ming Dynasty and Liang Qingbiao of the Qing Dynasty were renowned for their high taste and connoisseurship. The vast majority of artworks, passing through the appreciation by these three people, are fine products.
The recent viewing exhibition “Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art includes one rare literati handscroll painting “Two Landscapes Inspired by the Poetry of Du Fu” attributed to Sima Huai. This handscroll includes compliments and comments from men of literature and writing, which add on the cultural weight of and value of the painting.
For today’s artworks, especially for contemporary art, buyers value the provenance high that an artwork passes by celebrity collectors will boost the price of the art. The proves of renowned people’s engagement will also stimulate the value of the artwork in the monetary aspect and cultural accumulation. A similar way to the storage/appreciation seal is needed to simplify record research and indicate the collecting value of art straightly.
Another traditionally supporting factors to an artwork include treasure binding, a medieval technique of binding a book. Treasure binding refers to books covers encrusting with gemstones, pearl, gold, silver, and ivory. The purpose of the binding is to protect and support the manuscripts inside when the book was opened. Dating back to the end of the Roman Empire and popular in Medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire, treasure bindings signpost the wealth and status of their owners, as well as the piousness of consigners.
Morgan Library and Museum’s “Magnificent Gems: Medieval Treasure Bindings” special exhibition just closed in January, the half-year-long exhibition presented the luxurious and precious collection of treasuring binding Gospels, Sacramentary, and manuscripts.
Adding the valuable items in nature such as gold and gems on a artwork is another to secure the value of an artwork that the current art market can learn from. Especially as treasure bindings were only affordable by wealthy elites and were commissioned by wealthy private collectors, churches, and royalty, which further indicate the owner’s prestige.
FRESCO introduces a new idea of FRES trust that match the concept of treasure binding. For example, on FRESCO blockchain platform, a collector with 100,000 FRESCO tokens can decide to allocate these tokens to his artworks in a way he sees fit. The allocation of FRES tokens enhances people’s expectation of this artwork’s value and will result in the appreciation of this artwork.
Moreover, FRESCO expands the idea of Chinese seals through records in blockchain platform. FRESCO enables all to access art sales and artwork circulation activities, including exhibition and public collection records, transaction price, proof of authenticity, etc. FRESCO allows any user to upload artworks online, whether they produce or purchase them. With FRESCO’s artist database, the user will be able to filter artists by active years, art medium, art theme, art schools, etc.
Amazing news has been happening in FRESCO:
Recently Sylvain Levy, a world-renowned collector, and creator of the DSL Collection have joined our advisory team:
https://medium.com/fresco-network/fresco-welcomes-new-advisor-sylvain-levy-db435f3b79b2
Brock Pierce, director of Bitcoin Foundation, is also a supporter of our concept:
https://twitter.com/FRESCO_NETWORK/status/970580270511546368https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Pierce
Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Ethereum and Cardano, has confirmed FRESCO’s concept:
https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/970961715062910977
For additional information on FRESCO, please see here:
http://fresco.work/whitepaper
