Artstor: Advanced Searching

Artstor's Advanced Search feature allows you to search the database using specific terminology. The Advanced Search terms and their meaning are listed below.

Creator: Name, brief biographical information, and role(s) of the works' creator(s).

Title: Title(s), identifying phrases or name(s) given to a work of art, architecture or material culture. This can also include a term which characterizes the view of the work depicted in the image or a contextualized aspect of the work.

Location: For monumental work and architecture, the name and geographic location of the work. May include name and geographic location associated with the site where the work was originally created or found.

Repository: The name and geographic location of the repository (i.e. museum, institution, collecting unit) that is currently responsible (i.e. owns) the work. This can also indicate how the work was obtained by the repository, such as "Bequest", "gift", "purchase", and "loan". This can help you identify the provenance of the work and, if applicable, sometimes the year the work was accessioned by the repository.

Subject: Term(s) identify, describing and/or interpreting what is depicted in and by the work.

Material: Indicates the substances or materials used to create the work. This can also include techniques used to manufacture or fabricate the work.

Style or Period: Term(s) used to identify the names, defined style, historical or artistic period, movement, group, or school whose characteristics are represented by the work. 

Work Type: Term(s) used to identify the specific kind of object or work being described.

Culture: Name of the culture, people or nationality from which the work originated.

Technique: The production or manufacturing processes, techniques and methods incorporated in the fabrication or alteration of the work or image.

Number: The unique number or number and letter(s) used to identify the work's filename.

SSID: For internal Artstor use.

Repository ID: For interntal Artstor use.

The Advanced Search feature is quite powerful and gives you more control over your search.

Searching by keyword or browsing by collection is a great way to start your research, but if you want to find an image from a specific time period, style or region, the Advanced Search feature may be a faster way to find what you need.

The link to launch an Advanced Search is found directly under the keyword search box on any results page. Once you click on Advanced Search, a pop-up box will appear where you can construct the search.

Search for words and phrases:

1. Enter a search term in the first search box (or leave keywords blank)
2. Use the drop-down menu to the right of this field to specify the scope of your search: in any field, Title, Creator, Location, Repository, Subject, Material, Style or Period, Work Type, Culture, Description, Technique, Number, SSID, Repository ID or SSID.
3. Use the drop-down menu at the beginning of the second row to select a Boolean operator (AND/OR/NOT).
4. Enter another search term in the field provided.
5. Click Add Query to add additional keyword fields. You can add up to ten queries for each search.

Search by date or date range

1. In the date range area, enter a Start date and End date, and click to toggle an era [BCE or CE]. Enter only a Start date to search for a single date.

Search by geography

1. Use the scroll bar next to Geography to review a list of geographic terms.
2. Click the checkbox next to the desired region or country (up to five selections).

Search by classification

1. Use the scroll bar next to Classification to review a list of classification categories.
2. Click the checkbox next to the desired classification (up to five selections).

Search by collection

1. Under Collections you can perform your search exclusively in personal collections, institutional collections, and/or Shared Shelf collections, depending on your account settings.
2. To limit your search, click the checkbox next to the desired collection(s).

Refine or modify an advanced search

One you have performed an advanced search, and wish to add or edit the search criteria, you can refine using the filtering panels on the left, or if you wish to edit keywords and phrases, click Advanced search again and your existing criteria will populate the fields.

*Note

You can now search within your results!

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