This page is part of the International Guidelines for Museum Object Information: The CIDOC Information Categories: a description of the Information Categories that can be used when developing records about the objects in museum collections. For an outline of the Information Groups and Categories in the Guidelines, turn to the introductory list.
Purpose:
Subject depicted information primarily supports Access. Without this information it is not possible to provide even rudimentary access to pictorial collections beyond that required for accountability purposes. Subject information also supports the identification of objects.
Information categories:
Subject depicted
Subject
depicted description
Examples:
Subject
depicted: seascape
Subject depicted: sailing boats
Subject
depicted description: beach and sea near a town with sailing boats on a
rough sea
Notes:
Alternate names:
Iconograph
Depiction
Content
Definition:
A term describing the abstract or figural composition of an object or of the decoration on an object, or the interpretation of the composition.
Examples:
flowers
Queen Elizabeth I
war
Notes:
Move to beginning of Subject depicted
Alternate names:
Iconography
Subject
Content
Definition:
A textual description of the abstract or figural composition of an object or of the decoration on an object, and the interpretation of the composition.
Examples:
A woman picking potatoes in a large field with a background of a small village.
Move to beginning of Subject depicted
Move to outline of the Information Groups and Categoriesor the next page, the Contributions to the Development Process
file: guidesub.htm; author: CIDOC; updated June 1995