The information in the CERAMICA CH database is given in either German or French, depending on each canton’s main language. The contents are structured as follows:

• Name of the object or vessel type
• Region of production or place of manufacture, manufacturer and date, where known.
• Brief description of the object including technique, shape and decoration.
• Marks: where present, a brief description of the mark or marks is given.
• Measurements: rim diameter (“Rdm.”), diameter (“D.” or “diam.”) – height (“H.” or “haut.”) – width (“B.”, “Br.” or “larg.”) – depth (“T.” or “prof.”)
• Institution or museum
• Inventory number (initials of the institution and inventory number)
• Means and date of acquisition. Where the means and date of acquisition are unknown, the entry reads “Alter Museumsbestand, ohne Datum” or “Ancien fonds, s.d. (sans date)” even if relatively recently acquired.
• Bibliographical information (“Biblio.”): for objects pictured and/or mentioned in the literature (especially the publications CERAMICA CH I–III). This information does not claim to be exhaustive.
• Parallels (“Vgl.” or “Comp.”): references to publications that contain illustrations of similar objects or with evidence for their attribution or date. References to objects in other museums. This information does not claim to be exhaustive.
• Copyright/photographer: information about the image copyright holder and/or the photographer, where known.
• Data entry: information about who entered the data and when the record was last edited.

Additional information from old inventories (comments, old attributions) can be added in quotation marks, and the author of the record can add notes without quotation marks. References to other records in the image database must include their inventory numbers.

Translation Sandy Haemmerle