01
Cataloguing
Each record holds date, material, dimensions, and provenance as stable fields—photography is indexed as overall views, detail studies, and surface reads.
Research · Cataloguing system
Methodology How the archive is built
Bestiaire treats each ceramic as an exhibition object: stable metadata, animal classification placement, maker lineage, and scholarship notes—composed for slow looking under museum light.
02
Linking
Animals rooms, maker dossiers, and object records cross-reference one another. Representation and entity type are stored as editorial metadata for future curated indices.
03
Presentation
Public navigation favors exhibition flow over blunt filters. Commentary and citations sit beside the object—readable as wall labels in a dark gallery.
Step 1
Photograph
Black-field plates with raking light to preserve relief and glaze topography.
Step 2
Describe
Controlled vocabulary for taxa, materials, regions, and manufactories.
Step 3
Connect
Wire objects to makers, regions, and neighboring taxonomic rooms.
Step 4
Publish
Release records when scholarship notes and comparables are attached.
