Following the source
We work with museum records, historical publications, official accounts, artists’ own words and, where useful, identified auction or dealer records. Each kind of source has a different reach. A seller can describe an object without establishing the history of every edition.
We retain source references and precise locators for factual statements, with excerpts where recorded. Search results that have not been read remain research leads. When an account comes through a quotation or retelling, we keep that distinction visible. Another publisher repeating the same account does not automatically provide independent confirmation.
Keeping dates and names in focus
The date of a surviving object, an auction, a product page or a later recollection is not automatically a design’s first-edition year. We distinguish these dates rather than filling gaps with a neat chronology.
Attributions can conflict and catalogue names can be provisional. We preserve those questions instead of merging people, drawings or versions on the strength of a shared title.
What a note can tell us
A short documentary note may cover only one object or one source’s account. Accepting that note within its stated limits does not verify a complete drawing, every variant or a first edition.
Our working archive also contains unresolved records. They are not all finished articles or fully verified catalogue entries. In a reading, documented statements, attributed recollections, interpretation and open questions should remain distinguishable.
Images invite looking; sources support history
Historical references and visual credits do different jobs. A reference supports a statement; a visual credit identifies an image’s origin and permitted use. Being able to consult a picture does not grant permission to reproduce it.
Some pages use AI-generated contextual illustrations or illustrative reconstructions. These are labelled visibly. A realistic workshop can be an imagined scene: it is not proof of where, when or how an object was made. Such images are not presented as archival photographs, authentic portraits or exact scarf designs.
Keeping room for correction
When a correction is accepted, we update the reading and retain a record of the change. A new reference resolves an uncertainty only when it supports the missing point. Previously received checks are not described as a fresh reading of every source.
Sources are assessed at particular stages of the work, not monitored continuously. The history can become clearer as better evidence is received; a tidy sentence should never conceal an unresolved question.
About this project
MyQuotaBag Heritage is an independent editorial project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Hermès. Named editorial responsibility remains to be confirmed before public release.