An object can appear in a museum exhibition while belonging to another collection or lender. Reading the credit line helps distinguish where an item is displayed from how its ownership is described.
Record the wording actually supplied: lent by, purchased with, gift of, or another stated relationship. Do not replace these different terms with a general claim that the museum owns every object on view.
Follow one object through two records
In a fictional exercise, an exhibition page lists a vessel as lent by Collection A, while a separate catalogue identifies its home collection. Save both references and note which one describes the temporary display.
A photograph of the exhibition label can date your observation, but the display arrangement may later change. Preserve the visit or access date with your note instead of treating the exhibition location as permanent.
If the lender is anonymous or the public record is limited, keep that limitation. Do not try to infer a private owner from unrelated social-media photographs or rumours.
This distinction also improves captions. “Shown at Museum B in this exhibition” is a different statement from “in Museum B’s collection.” Choosing the wording supported by the credit line gives readers a more accurate route through the object’s documented public history.
Editorial illustration from this site’s image library; not documentary evidence of the example or object discussed.