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 “Model of a well head and bucket” — 64 records examined, 25 dropped by the rights gate.

Archives queried 2026-08-31 09:03 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.
Model of a well head and bucket

Model of a well head and bucket

Artist not stated in the record · 1st–2nd century

Public domainThe Met
Doble Water Wheel, Patent Model

Doble Water Wheel, Patent Model

Artist not stated in the record · 1899

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Francesco I de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, by Giambologna

Francesco I de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany

Giambologna · modeled 1585–87, cast ca. 1611

Public domainThe Met
Patent Model, Endless Chain Propeller

Patent Model, Endless Chain Propeller

Artist not stated in the record · 1876

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Statue of Kneeling Captive

Statue of Kneeling Captive

Artist not stated in the record · ca. 2246–2152 BCE

Public domainThe Met
Design for Cartouche Forming a Bridge (Horizontal), by Jacques de Lajoüe, French, 1687–1761

Design for Cartouche Forming a Bridge (Horizontal)

Jacques de Lajoüe, French, 1687–1761 · 1740

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Silver Bucket

Silver Bucket

Artist not stated in the record · 600s

Public domainThe Met
Tramp bucket

Tramp bucket

Artist not stated in the record · c. 1895

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Hercules and the Erymanthian boar, by Giambologna

Hercules and the Erymanthian boar

Giambologna · Late 17th or 18th century

Public domainThe Met
Plate XLIV from Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum

Plate XLIV from Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum

Artist not stated in the record · 1582

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Trotting horse, by Giambologna

Trotting horse

Giambologna · probably 1587–91

Public domainThe Met
Bucket used in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Bucket used in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Artist not stated in the record

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Vase on a column stand, by Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles

Vase on a column stand

Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles · after 1771–72, mounts ca. 1780

Public domainThe Met
lock, well bucket

lock, well bucket

Artist not stated in the record · 18th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Minerva, by Clodion (Claude Michel)

Minerva

Clodion (Claude Michel) · 1766

Public domainThe Met
Cottle Windmill, Patent Model

Cottle Windmill, Patent Model

Artist not stated in the record · 1879

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Andiron with figure of Juno (chenet) (one of a pair), by Alessandro Algardi

Andiron with figure of Juno (chenet) (one of a pair)

Alessandro Algardi · late 17th century

Public domainThe Met
Fire Bucket, "W.P. Goodhue", by unknown

Fire Bucket, "W.P. Goodhue"

unknown · mid 19th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Saint Matthew, by Antonio Susini

Saint Matthew

Antonio Susini · 1596

Public domainThe Met
Plate XLIII from Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum

Plate XLIII from Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum

Artist not stated in the record · 1582

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
David and Goliath, by Francesco Fanelli

David and Goliath

Francesco Fanelli · 17th century cast

Public domainThe Met
Fire Bucket, "Protection in Danger", by unknown

Fire Bucket, "Protection in Danger"

unknown · ca 1800

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
Perseus with the Head of Medusa, by Antonio Canova

Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Antonio Canova · 1804–6

Public domainThe Met
Life Raft, Patent Model

Life Raft, Patent Model

Artist not stated in the record · 1871

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. 4351 matched · 24 examined · 0 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. 4070861 matched · 40 examined · 25 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 2026-08-31 09:03 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.