Research methodology
Every statement shows its evidence
The founding collection establishes the classification system, terminology and visual method before the database expands. Records are drawn from museum collections across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific.
Taken directly from the holding institution’s catalogue record, with a link to the source.
A classification or reading proposed by Forms Through Time, labelled as such and open to revision.
Date, attribution or terminology is disputed, estimated or not yet resolved.
- 01
Sources
Each record is drawn from a holding institution’s published catalogue entry and links back to it. Titles, accession numbers and type labels are kept as the institution gives them.
- 02
Record status
Records are marked Draft until the catalogue entry has been checked against the source, then Source checked. Disputed labels stay visible and are flagged.
- 03
Dates
Dates are written with c., BCE and CE and en-dash ranges. Where a date can be read as start and end years it is indexed for filtering; otherwise it is shown as given and listed as Date not yet indexed.
- 04
Measurements
Heights are recorded in centimetres as published by the institution. Where no height is published the vessel is not drawn to scale.
- 05
Form families
Museum type labels are grouped into form families by overall form and use. The grouping is interpretive and proposed by Forms Through Time; each record keeps its original label.
- 06
Regions
Places of origin are grouped into seven broad regions for browsing. The regions are provisional and do not mark cultural boundaries.