A Global Image and Knowledge Platform

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In the course of many years of research and close examination of the micro-images which were available on the internet through auction houses, dealers, collectors and museums and were freely accessible or were photographed on-site in museums or were made available free of charge, an image database and a criteria system called VIK (Visual identity key) with 138 sub-criteria for cataloguing and classifying the micro-images developed over the years. 

By means of the so-called CSC (cross-selection criteria), all criteria related to the micro-image can be set in relation to each other. The computer can therefore generate image combinations in seconds that no human being has ever seen before. 

The main classification is made up of the existing stock in museums and the stock in private collections. This is followed by a classification according to individual museums, differentiation according to countries, the choice of picture, size, shape, colour, background, special criteria, allocation according to individual artists and dating. Differentiation is made according to the type of versions and the versions themselves. It is also possible to search by keyword.  

The four main criteria for assessing a micro-picture, which emerged during the examination of the artworks, the cataloguing and the development of the program, as well as the conspicuous special criteria for the Diepper boxes, form the basic scientific framework. All these criteria were stored in a sequence of numbers and letters comparable to the ASCII code for each individual work of art.

 

Therefore, no real computer program is required to make the selections. This allows a search in Windows as well as in the Apple operating system or any other computer operating system that uses an ASCII code. ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a 7-bit character encoding. The ASCII code was first approved by the American Standards Association (ASA) on 17 June 1963 as standard ASA X3.4-1963 and was substantially updated in 1967/1968 and most recently in 1986 (ANSI X3.4-1986) by its successor institutions and is still in use today. The character encoding defines 128 characters. This coding of the VIK is based on this assignment of the character code of the ASCII code. The sequence of character combinations results in a sequence of letters and numbers. In simplified terms, only a combination of numbers and letters is placed in different relations and sequences, whereby mathematically the sequence has no meaning but which can then be easily selected by searching for parts.

An example to illustrate this: the code for a single image could be:

 

MB_GB_CM0_000001_A0_000x000_G03_H0_blue_gla_SK_pic_gms_pic_666_Hess-S_title

 

Of course, the letters and number sequence could also be longer, it depends on the previously established criteria.

Each individual criterion or several can be related to another or several letter sequences of another figure. The result is that all criteria can be cross-checked with practically all criteria in CSC. How large this range of variation is can hardly be imagined, only mathematically calculated. The human eye would have no way of comparing all these different criteria at the same time, and in fact, this would not be possible due to the different storage locations of the artworks. The more exact and precise the coding is, the more exact the later image selection and the result. 

But back to the present example of how such a sequence of characters is constructed. One could also have coded simply in 0 and 1. But as a human being, such coding would be too abstract and probably nervously unfeasible, so this mnemonic method was used. 

The letter sequence for the associated picture says that it is a picture of a museum collection in the UK and is stored in the City and Art Gallery in Bristol, that picture is number 1 of several, that it is a picture and is not literature or any other reference.

It lists the size in mm, the size in the corresponding category, in this case, G03 (up to 39 mm) in longitudinal or horizontal format, that the motif is oval, that the background is glass, that the colour of the background is blue, that it is a ship/coastal scene, that it is a wall painting, that the frame is gold smooth, i.e. golden and smooth, that the ivory is dusted, i.e. has been stippled, that it is signed, that Hess Sebastian created the work and that it has a title. The individual criteria can be further supplemented by keywords such as frigate, ruin etc. about what is depicted in the picture and the like.

If you are looking for one or more rectangular micrographs, simply enter the criterion rectangular Rt in the search bar. Let's say 150 images appear. If you enter Rt and Perl (mother-of-pearl), perhaps 25 images will appear on the monitor. If you then enter 777, which stands for the criterion allocation by literature or museums, perhaps only 2-3 specimens will appear. These can then be compared with the other 25 examples. This is because, according to literature and in comparison with other works, the material mother-of-pearl was only used by Adolphe Brodbek. 

Thus, interesting comparisons can be made using the criteria of format and material of use in combination with signing or literature attribution. Museums could check their holdings in a very short time and find out more background information, art auction houses could very quickly find comparative examples in the database and then draw up an expert opinion, privates collectors could also compare their works of art and make assignments. A win–win situation for everyone who cares about this art and for many who have never experienced or seen anything of this unique occidental art in microformat. And if one would like to see an original, the database also provides references to all known museums worldwide. 

The prerequisite would be that at least one picture, be it from a museum platform itself, can be accessed, and collectors provide protected and anonymous pictures and auction houses give their permission for the already existing pictures to be used. 

This would create an image database that is unique in the world and that everyone can access free of charge, regardless of skin colour, religion, social origin or political conviction. 

Currently, this Giga database already exists, but due to possible image rights, these 1587 images cannot all be put online so easily. Legally, permission is required from each individual museum and each auction house or collector.

To actively research or simply look at a worldwide unique world collection that no one has ever seen before.

If these images are put on the internet e.g. under a website like this, all that is needed is the key directory for the criteria and anyone could access this world-spanning global collection of all museums and collectors worldwide. 

For the book of micro-carvings, which is in preparation, this database, which has been developed and constantly updated for 15 years, forms one of several bases for the content of the book.