Linked Art API: Shared Relationships

Last refreshed: 2026-08-20

Source: Relationships shared structure, part of Linked Art API 1.0, published under CC BY 4.0. This is a project summary; the upstream page is authoritative.

Purpose

Relationship assignments model direct asserted relationships between entities when the relationship is arbitrary, curatorial, uncertain, or otherwise not worth expanding into a more specific semantic activity. Linked Art uses `AttributeAssignment` for this pattern.

The `assigned` property points to the related entity or entities. The optional `assigned_property` can identify the relationship predicate when the relationship type is known.

Required Shape

A relationship assignment structure includes:

• `type`: required. Must be `AttributeAssignment`.
• `assigned`: required. Array of references to the related entity or entities. Linked Art notes that this should not be used for `Dimension` or `Identifier` assignments.

Recommended Fields

• `_label`: developer-facing label.
• `identified_by`: names or identifiers for the assignment, following the `Name` or `Identifier` pattern.
• `classified_as`: classifications following the `Type` structure.

Optional Fields

• `id`: URI identifying the assignment.
• `_complete`: completeness signal. If the `id` URI has richer dereferenceable information, `_complete: false` must be present.
• `referred_to_by`: embedded statements about the assignment.
• `carried_out_by`: `Person` or `Group` references for the actor who made the assignment.
• `timespan`: when the relationship was assigned, following the `TimeSpan` pattern.
• `during`: `Period` references during which the assignment occurred.
• `before`: `Period`, `Event`, or `Activity` references before which the assignment occurred.
• `after`: `Period`, `Event`, or `Activity` references after which the assignment occurred.
• `influenced_by`: entities that influenced or motivated the assignment.
• `caused_by`: `Event` references that caused the assignment.
• `used_specific_object`: resources instrumental in making the assignment, such as source documents or tools.
• `technique`: `Type` references for techniques used in the assignment.
• `assigned_property`: URI or context-resolvable term identifying the predicate between the main entity and `assigned` entity.

Common Incoming Relationships

• `attributed_by`: any endpoint can use relationship assignments to record asserted relationships for the entity.
• `assigned_by`: `Dimension` and `Identifier` structures can use this to record assignment evidence.

Meta Museum Notes

Meta Museum already has strong proof for complex `AttributeAssignment` preservation through `/api/records/{id}`. Current coverage includes `assigned_property`, `assigned`, `timespan`, source/citation `used_specific_object`, contextual `caused_by`, uncertain production assignments, embedded `Identifier` and `Name` `assigned_by` provenance, AI statement creation technique/tool metadata, statement-level rights, and generic related-entity display labels.

The tested ULAN associative-relationship example(../ulan-associative-relationships.md)

also preserves the full Getty `ulan1102_student_of` predicate in

`assigned_property`. It uses the full URI rather than assuming that the

canonical Linked Art context declares a `gvp` prefix.

This page closes the API-reference side of the same pattern: relationship assertions should remain explicit Linked Art structures, not flattened into display-only text or silently promoted into stronger semantic claims.

Test Ideas

• Preserve object-level `attributed_by` assignments with `assigned` and `assigned_property`.
• Preserve `carried_out_by`, `timespan`, `caused_by`, `influenced_by`, and `used_specific_object` on relationship assignments.
• Preserve `assigned_by` on embedded `Dimension` and `Identifier` structures.
• Preserve `_complete: false` when a dereferenceable assignment URI has richer detail elsewhere.
• Verify arbitrary related-object recommendations stay as `AttributeAssignment` and do not overwrite canonical object fields.