National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION

Accession Number Search

Locate information about a specific work of art in the Gallery's collection by entering the accession number of the object. Each work in the collection is assigned a unique number in three parts, separated by periods (to which a fourth part is added if necessary). The first number is the year the object(s) was accessioned; the second number is the transaction within the year by which the object was formally acquired; the third number is the object's number within the transaction.

The most common search is for a single accession number. However, Accession Number Search automatically inserts a wildcard if you enter a partial accession number. To see all objects accessioned in a single year, enter just the year. To see all objects accessioned in a single transaction, enter the year, a period, and the transaction number (as in 1983.1 or 1942.9). If you do not know if an object includes a fourth part, entering the complete three-part number will also find objects whose numbers include additional letters or numbers in the fourth position.

 
Accession Number:

Examples:
1942.9.17.b - returns the individual part of the object
1942.9.17 - returns all the parts of the object
1942.9 - returns all objects in the transaction
1942 - returns all objects in the year

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