The Product

An AI research assistant for provenance.

Researchers ask questions in ordinary language, such as “Where was this painting between 1933 and 1945?”, and Ardelia searches multiple archives and databases at once, in several languages, and returns the relevant records with their sources.

Work that once took weeks of searching across dozens of sources can begin in minutes.

How it works

1
You ask
A plain-language question about an object, artist, collector, dealer, or sale.
2
Ardelia searches
Multiple sources together, handling variant spellings, translations, and inconsistent or error-ridden records, and connecting related entries across databases.
3
You receive
A summary of what the records show, with the underlying records and citations, so every lead can be verified against the original source.
4
Every result states its limits
What was searched, how current the data is, what was not searched, and what the search cannot reach.

The coverage statement is what makes a result defensible to a lawyer, an insurer, or an appraiser signing a report. Ardelia surfaces evidence; it never certifies title or declares a work looted.

Accuracy

Accuracy will be measured, not claimed. We are testing Ardelia’s automated matching against 8,182 records that archivists have already linked by hand.

An example

An illustrative entry

Portrait of a Woman, oil on canvas

The back of the canvas, where each owner leaves a mark. An invented work; the sources are real.

1
Sale, Berlin, 1934, lot 31.
Getty Provenance Index, German Sales Catalogs, 1900–1945
2
Seized by the ERR from a private collection in Paris, 1941; inventoried at the Jeu de Paume.
ERR Project’s Jeu de Paume database
3
No record after 1944 in the sources searched.
A gap is shown as a gap, never filled with a guess.
4
Searched: the ERR Project’s Jeu de Paume database and the Getty German Sales Catalogs, 1900–1945.
Not yet searched: postwar sales and restitution files.

Ardelia surfaces records and leads. People make the judgments.

We begin with Nazi-era sources; records from other periods and regions are being added.

Sources

Two major public databases, with more sources being added.

41,254

records from the ERR Project’s Jeu de Paume database

831,833

records from the Getty Provenance Index, German Sales Catalogs, 1900–1945

Both are public sources, credited here by name. Figures as indexed on September 14, 2026.

Ardelia is building toward all 102 databases and archives that hold the evidence for the Nazi era, beginning with the Munich Central Collecting Point records and the 1938 Vienna asset declarations.

Independence

Ardelia sells access to a research instrument. It takes no share of recoveries, settlements, or sale proceeds, and does not act for claimants or holders. A company paid by outcomes has an interest in finding looting; a company selling an instrument has an interest in the instrument being right.

Access

Pilot, by application

Ardelia is available to institutions and researchers through a pilot program. Request a demo to see it work on your own questions.

Request a demo

Built for

Museums
Auction houses
Dealers
Appraisers
Insurers
Law firms
Scholars
Families

An AI research assistant for provenance.

How it works

You ask

Ardelia searches

You receive

Every result states its limits

Accuracy

An illustrative entry

Two major public databases, with more sources being added.

Independence

Pilot, by application