OpenGlyph — Catalogue of the American Public DomainJurisdiction: United StatesRev. 2026.08
Images / art

Two archives, queried live.

Every record below comes from The Met or Smithsonian Open Access and was filtered on that archive’s own rights field before it reached this page. 24 shown for “Cover with Unicorns” — 64 records examined, 13 dropped by the rights gate.

Archives queried 2026-09-04 03:22 UTC · fetched live for this request

Object
Public domainThe Met’s isPublicDomain field is true for this object.
CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian’s metadata_usage.access reads CC0 — a waiver, not an expired term.
Not shownAnything failing its archive’s rights field is dropped server-side and never appears here.
Cover with Unicorns

Cover with Unicorns

Artist not stated in the record · 16th century

Public domainThe Met
Sugar Bowl and Cover, by James Goodwin, British, active London (entered 1706)

Sugar Bowl and Cover

James Goodwin, British, active London (entered 1706) · 1726–1727

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Unicorn Rests in a Garden (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

The Unicorn Rests in a Garden (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

Artist not stated in the record · 1495–1505

Public domainThe Met
Towel fragment

Towel fragment

Artist not stated in the record · 17th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Hunters Return to the Castle (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

The Hunters Return to the Castle (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

Artist not stated in the record · 1495–1505

Public domainThe Met
Melchizedek Brings Bread and Wine to Abraham [above]; Unicorn Hunt [below], by Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, Flemish, 1523–1605

Melchizedek Brings Bread and Wine to Abraham [above]; Unicorn Hunt [below]

Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, Flemish, 1523–1605 · ca. 1584–1605

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Tapestry Room from Croome Court, by Robert Adam

Tapestry Room from Croome Court

Robert Adam · 1763–71

Public domainThe Met
Band

Band

Artist not stated in the record · 16th–17th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Wall clock (cartel), by Etienne LeNoir

Wall clock (cartel)

Etienne LeNoir · ca. 1735–40

Public domainThe Met
Banner

Banner

Artist not stated in the record · mid-19th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Unicorn Defends Himself (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

The Unicorn Defends Himself (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

Artist not stated in the record · 1495–1505

Public domainThe Met
Towel fragment

Towel fragment

Artist not stated in the record · 17th–18th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Rape of Europa and Mercury and the Three Graces, by Lambertus Vrythoff

The Rape of Europa and Mercury and the Three Graces

Lambertus Vrythoff · case ca. 1645, movement ca. 1750

Public domainThe Met
Figure of America

Figure of America

Artist not stated in the record · late 17th–early 18th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Potpourri bowl with cover

Potpourri bowl with cover

Artist not stated in the record · stoneware 18th century, mounts 1745–49

Public domainThe Met
Button

Button

Artist not stated in the record · 19th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Potpourri bowl with cover (one of a pair)

Potpourri bowl with cover (one of a pair)

Artist not stated in the record · porcelain late 17th century, mounts ca. 1745–50

Public domainThe Met
The Lion Hunt

The Lion Hunt

Artist not stated in the record · 1750–1800

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Unicorn Crosses a Stream (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

The Unicorn Crosses a Stream (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

Artist not stated in the record · 1495–1505

Public domainThe Met
Button

Button

Artist not stated in the record · 19th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Pledge glass with cover

Pledge glass with cover

Artist not stated in the record · 18th century

Public domainThe Met
Lion Hunt, by Jean-Baptiste Scotin I, 1678 – after 1738

Lion Hunt

Jean-Baptiste Scotin I, 1678 – after 1738 · 1730–50

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Teapot with cover, by Meissen Manufactory

Teapot with cover

Meissen Manufactory · manufactured ca. 1720–25, decorated ca. 1730

Public domainThe Met
Sampler

Sampler

Artist not stated in the record · 1820

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
What was queried

Where these records came from.

Two archives are wired, and only two. Each one is filtered on its own rights field — never on a title match, and never on the presence of an image file.

  • The Met Collection API (Open Access)Rights field: isPublicDomain. 12675 matched · 24 examined · 2 dropped by the rights gate. Kept only where isPublicDomain === true and a file URL was published.12 shown
  • Smithsonian Open Access API (api.si.edu)Rights field: content.descriptiveNonRepeating.metadata_usage.access. 263082 matched · 40 examined · 11 dropped by the rights gate. Kept only where metadata_usage.access === "CC0" and an image resource was published.12 shown

These figures describe the pass run at 2026-09-04 03:22 UTC, during this request. A completed pass is kept for 24 hours and replayed for an identical search, which is what keeps repeated queries inside Smithsonian’s 30-requests-per-hour allowance. A pass in which either archive failed to answer is never kept — an outage must not be replayed as though it were a finding about the catalogue.

Wikimedia Commons and the Library of Congress are deliberately not wired. Wikimedia was confirmed, on a live query, to return CC-BY material inside the same result set as genuine public domain works, and filtering it safely has not been designed yet. loc.gov was blocked by bot detection during the source evaluation, so its rights vocabulary has never been observed — and nothing here is built on a field nobody has read.

An image file is a rights claim. It never travels without its field.