Definitions of ‘Provenance’

Provenance:
The fact of coming from some particular source or quarter; origin, derivation; the history or pedigree of a work of art, manuscript, rare book, etc.; concretely, a record of the ultimate derivation and passage of an item through its various owners.
Origin: late 18th century: from French, from the verb provenir ‘come or stem from’
Oxford English Dictionary (GB)

The history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (US)

The record of all known previous ownerships and locations of a work of art (as given in a catalouge raisonné).
Edward Lucie-Smith, Dictionary of Art Terms, London 1984, p. 154

Latin: provenire, from pro- ‘forth’ + venire ‘come’

“The geographical, chronological, and social origins of the product […]. As a set of traits which recur in certain works of art, every historic style has a certain extension or field of occurrence. This is the realm of space, time, and social culture in which it is or was produced and used. This realm is also called its ‘provenance’ – the place and time in which a style or work of art originates; the person or persons who produced it.”
Thomas Muro, Evolution in the Arts and Other Theories of Culture History, Ohio 1963, pp. 229 and 259f.

Pedigree ([pédigri:] (French), pied de grue: The recorded ancestry or lineage of a person or family; the history or provenance of a person or thing, especially as conferring distinction; a genealogical table.
Oxford English Dictionary