Plate Archive

Public-domain art statistics

This is a running count of the 758 public-domain plates in the archive: how many carry a named artist, which museums and subjects supply them, how the works spread from the 34th century BCE to the modern era, and who the most prolific illustrators are. Every figure is counted directly from the catalogue, and every work is released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) or equivalent public-domain dedication.

In short: 758 public-domain plates, 524 of them attributed to a named artist, across 307 illustrators, 9 science and natural-history subjects and 3 museum open-access collections. The 19th century is the best-represented period, with 190 plates.

How many public-domain images are in the archive?

The archive currently catalogues 758 public-domain plates, every one released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) dedication or an equivalent public-domain flag. Of those, 524 carry a named illustrator and 234 are recorded without an attributed artist, which is normal for older scientific and decorative work.

MeasureCount
Public-domain plates catalogued 758
Plates with a named artist 524 (69.1%)
Plates without an attributed artist 234 (30.9%)
Distinct named illustrators 307

Where do the public-domain images come from?

Every plate is drawn from a museum open-access programme that has explicitly placed the work in the public domain, and the archive stores the museum's own rights field and value against each record. The collections below supply the plates, and all of them use a CC0 or public-domain flag rather than a restrictive licence.

Museum sourceRights flagPlates
The Cleveland Museum of Art share_license_status = CC0 399
Art Institute of Chicago is_public_domain = true 292
The Metropolitan Museum of Art isPublicDomain = true 67

What subjects do the public-domain plates cover?

The archive is organised into 9 science and natural-history subjects, from botanical and ornithological plates to celestial charts and anatomical illustration. Botanical illustration is the largest subject. A plate can sit in more than one subject, so the counts below are memberships rather than a division of the 758 plates.

SubjectPlates
Botanical illustration 135
Celestial charts & astronomy 121
Historical scientific diagrams 101
Ornithological plates 94
Entomological plates 93
Marine & aquatic life 92
Mineralogy & geology 92
Anatomical illustration 92
Zoological illustration 92

How old are the works in the public-domain archive?

The catalogued works span from the 34th century BCE through to the modern era. 657 plates date from the Common Era and 95 come from objects made before it. The 19th century is the best-represented period with 190 plates, reflecting the great age of printed scientific illustration.

CenturyPlates
19th century 190
18th century 113
17th century 88
16th century 67
15th century 46
20th century 21
13th century 20
8th century 17
14th century 17
12th century 16
10th century 14
7th century 10

Who are the most prolific artists in the public-domain archive?

Across 307 named illustrators, a handful account for a disproportionate share of the plates. The most represented contributors are listed below, each linking to every public-domain work the archive holds by that name. Where a source recorded a place or workshop rather than a person, that attribution is preserved verbatim.

Artist or makerPlates
Ancient Egyptian 23
Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet 20
William Morris 15
Ancient Greek 13
Winslow Homer 10
Derby 9
England 8
China 7
India 6
Nasca 6
Pieter Holsteyn II 6
Sinceny Factory 6
Battista Franco 5
Kitagawa Utamaro 5
Moche 5

What are the oldest public-domain works in the archive?

The oldest catalogued objects predate printing by thousands of years and reach back to the earliest datable pieces in the collection. Each work below links to its full record, including the museum's own dating and its public-domain rights statement.

WorkDate
Palette in the Form of a Fish c. 3500–2950 BCE
Head of a Bull 3000–2000 BCE
Head of a ruler ca. 2300–2000 BCE
Vessel with Reclining Figure and Birds 2200–200 BCE
Stela of the Steward Mentuwoser ca. 1944 B.C.
Ring with a Scarab Bezel Second Intermediate Period, Dynasty 15 (about 1650–1550 BCE)
Cosmetic Vessel c. 1980–1901 BCE
Jug Decorated with Dolphins and Birds ca. 1750–1550 B.C.
Scarab: Title (Seal-Bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, Overseer of Sealed Goods) and Personal Name (Har) Second Intermediate Period, Dynasties 15–17 (about 1650–1550 BCE)
Cosmetic Saucer Decorated with Swans New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20 (about 1550–1070 BCE)

How these numbers are counted

Each figure on this page is a direct count over the catalogued records, refreshed every time the page loads, so it always matches the live archive. A plate is only included once a museum has explicitly flagged it as public domain, and the museum's own rights field and value are stored against the record. Subjects can overlap, so a plate may be counted under more than one subject. You can explore the full catalogue from the browse tool, or jump into a subject from the themes index or an illustrator from the artists index.

Sources