Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Illustrations

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This page is a work in progress page, not an article or policy, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. Please offer suggestions on the talk page.

This page collects and refines best practices for describing illustrations contained in other works, such as books, periodicals or other printed matter. For example, the image File:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876) - illustration - page after 306.png is contained within the book with digital item File:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu.

An important facet of the illustration ontology is that a given file can be both:

• an representation of the instance of an artwork, contained in a given edition of a book
• a version of another artwork, of which the original illustration is a reproduction

Best practices

Illustrations without Wikidata item

This section describes some best practices for illustrations that are not notable enough to have their own Wikidata item. This is the usual case, as few illustrations merit their own Wikidata item.

For an illustration in a book or periodical, there should be a Wikidata item for the edition in question (i.e. instance of (P31) → version, edition or translation (Q3331189)). The illustration is then associated with that edition via published in (P1433).

Illustrations should not be "published in" works: a specific illustration comes from a specific edition.

List of properties

• Caption — a description of the illustration
  • Example: "Illustration from the page after 306 of The Chaldean Account of Genesis depicting Oannes."
• instance of (P31) — usually subclasses of illustration (Q178659), possibly one or more of:
  • Image type/technology used in reproduction
    • engraving (Q11835431)
      • woodcut print (Q18219090)
      • lithograph (Q15123870)
      • chromolithograph (Q89503149)
      • steel engraving print (Q22669546)
    • photographic print (Q56055236)
      • daguerreotype image (Q64029175)
    • facsimile (Q194070)
  • Image location in the book or purpose
    • book illustration (Q998555) (for a general illustration)
    • frontispiece (Q583866)
    • author portrait (Q98690998)
    • publisher's mark (Q15873403) (usually on title or copyright page page of a book)
    • book cover design (Q2260076)
    • decorated initial (Q63872683) / factotum initial (Q63443335)
    • fleuron (Q2033580)
    • bas-de-page (Q97747439)
    • decorative rule (Q108159132)
• published in (P1433) — the edition of the work that this illustration was published in
  • Example: The Chaldean Account of Genesis (Q108154869)
  • Qualify with position in the edition:
    • page(s) (P304) — what page(s) the illustration was printed on
      • Example: 123, after 306, etc (not all pages have an unambiguous number in the original pagination)
    • volume (P478) — the volume of the work the image appeared in (if the work has multiple volumes and published in (P1433) refers to the work as a whole, rather than a specific volume
• country of origin (P495) — the country of origin (usually the same as the publication country of the book, but not always). This is important for the use of copyright status (P6216)
• title (P1476) — the original caption of the image, if any
  • Example: "Oannes. From Nimroud Sculpture."
• section, verse, paragraph, or clause (P958) ­— the original figure reference
  • Example: "Figure 1a", "Plate 3", etc.
• depicts (P180) — what is actually shown in the illustration
• edition or translation of (P629) — if this illustration is as reproduction of another image.
  • For example: file:First Folio - West 192 - frontispiece engraving.jpg is a version of Droeshout portrait (Q126172)
• extracted from (P7009) — if the file is extracted from an existing file. If the file is derived from an external source (like a high-res scan), use source of file (P7482), even if there is a scan file at Commons. Usually, an associated would be accessible via edition or translation of (P629) of the edition at Wikidata and should not be linked from the illustration's data as there is no direct link between the two files.

Less common, but possible properties:

• height (P2048) and width (P2049) — the original physical size of the illustration
• language of work or name (P407) — if the illustration has textual content in a certain language
• follows (P155), followed by (P156) — the previous and next illustrations in the book
• Any specific authority control ID for the illustration in particular

Standard SDC properties

• The author of the image per Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Author (i.e. mostly using creator (P170)).
  • Use object has role (P3831) to denote the specific role that the creator had, for example:
    • painter (Q1028181)
    • engraver (Q329439)
    • lithographer (Q16947657)
• The source of this image per Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Source.
  • This is not always the same as the source of the edition, for example if a higher-resolution copy has been used
• The license of the image (not necessarily the same as the book) per Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Copyright.
• The date of the image (usually the same as the book, but not always) per Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Date (i.e. probably use inception (P571))
  • In the case of a reproduction, this is not the same as the date of the original image (the one referred to by edition or translation of (P629)). For example, an 1820 engraving of a painting made in 1790 would have the date "1820".

Anonymous illustrations

Illustrations are often anonymously produced by artists working for publishers, so an anonymous creator (P170) is a common occurrence.

In this case, the creator (P170) claim should be set to some value using the drop down button:

• creator (P170) → some value
  • object has role (P3831) qualifier set to anonymous (Q4233718)

You can add other qualifiers to this creator (P170) claim, some examples are given at Wikidata's WikiProject Visual arts.

Illustrations of an artwork with Wikidata item

Often, the image published in a book is some kind of reproduction of an artwork well-known enough to have its own Wikidata item:

• Wikidata item (of the original artwork)
  • image (P18) - points to Commons image file, which may, or may not, be this version
  • depicts (P180) - holds depiction statements
  • Other properties as in the "without Wikidata" case, as long as they refer to the original image, not only this version of it. These properties are applied to the Wikidata entity itself, not the file at Commons
• Commons file
  • digital representation of (P6243) - points to Wikidata item (see above)
  • depicts (P180) - points to Wikidata item (see above) - No further P180 statements
  • page(s) (P304), folio(s) (P7416), etc - the location of the image in the containing work
  • title (P1476) - the caption as published with this version of the image (will often refer to the original artwork)
  • creator (P170) - creator(s) involved in the creation only of this version (e.g. the engraver), using object has role (P3831) give the role they had
  • Other properties as described above, that specifically refer to this version

Illustrations with its own Wikidata item

It is relatively uncommon for a specific published reproduction of an image to have its own Wikidata item, but it's possible for, for example, very famous manuscripts.

Broadly, this is the same as above, except that the information specific to this version of the image, such as the page numbering, caption, etc., also goes at Wikidata.

• Wikidata item (of this version of the artwork)
  • image (P18) - points to Commons image file
  • depicts (P180) - holds depiction statements
  • page(s) (P304), folio(s) (P7416), etc - the location of the image in the containing work
  • Other properties as in the "without Wikidata" case, but these properties are applied to the Wikidata entity itself, not the file at Commons
• Commons file
  • digital representation of (P6243) - points to Wikidata item (see above)
  • depicts (P180) - points to Wikidata item (see above) - No further P180 statements
  • All other properties belong at Wikidata, since the Wikidata item refers to this specific version of the image

Examples

(list files below that provide best practices on how to model various situations)

Simple, uncredited illustration

• File:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876) - illustration - page after 306.png
  • instance of (P31) → book illustration (Q998555)
  • published in (P1433) → The Chaldean Account of Genesis (Q108154869)
    • page(s) (P304) → "after 306"
  • title (P1476) → "Oannes. From Nimroud Sculpture."
  • country of origin (P495) → United States of America (Q30)
  • depicts (P180) → Oannes (Q1089680)
  • copyright status (P6216) → public domain (Q19652)
    • applies to jurisdiction (P1001) → United States of America (Q30)
    • determination method (P459) → published more than 95 years ago (Q47246828)
  • inception (P571) → 1876
  • creator (P170) → some value (since not stated in the book)
    • object has role (P3831) → anonymous (Q4233718)
  • source of file (P7482) → file available on the internet (Q74228490) (because this file was not extracted from the DjVu file itself)
    • described at URL (P973) → https://archive.org/details/chaldeanaccounto00smit
    • retrieved (P813) → 12 August 2021

Engraved "plate"

• File:Hudibras, 1859 - Plate - Montaigne.png
  • instance of (P31) → engraving (Q11835431)
  • published in (P1433) → Hudibras (Q108167806)
    • volume (P478) → "1"
    • page(s) (P304) → "facing 5"
  • title (P1476) → "Montaigne. From a print by Chereau"
  • depicts (P180) → Michel de Montaigne (Q41568)
  • country of origin (P495) → England (Q21)
  • copyright status (P6216)
    • public domain (Q19652) (in the US)
      • applies to jurisdiction (P1001) → United States of America (Q30)
      • determination method (P459) → published more than 95 years ago (Q47246828)
    • public domain (Q19652) (countries with pma rules)
      • applies to jurisdiction (P1001) → countries with 100 years pma or shorter (Q60332278)
      • determination method (P459) → 100 years or more after author(s) death (Q29940705)
  • inception (P571) → 1859
  • creator (P170)
    • François Chéreau (Q3084266)
      • object has role (P3831) → painter (Q1028181)
    • Robert Cooper (Q18534909)
      • object has role (P3831) → engraver (Q329439) (indicated by "sculpt.")
  • source of file (P7482) → file available on the internet (Q74228490) (because this file was not extracted from the DjVu file itself)
    • described at URL (P973) → https://archive.org/details/hudibras01butl
    • retrieved (P813) → 21 December 2010