# Ottocento by Berubara

## The work and its context

Ottocento is project 374 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug ottocento-by-berubara and credited to Berubara. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 35 of 35 invocations, runtime js@na, and the official description: «Ottocento» is a collection of generative portraits of fictional historical figures. The series starts by exploring the nuances of the male figure as represented in the 19th century («Ottocento» in Italian). Further chapters of the project, focusing on different identities, are planned. The illustrations, drawn by hand and then converted to digital, constitute an ironic portrayal of the society of that era. The portraits, all in the same three-quarter view, reference the typological projects of German photographer August Sander.  Individual features and expressions are combined through the controlled randomness that generative art affords, deliberately blurring clear visual distinctions between nationalities, roles, and social classes. The result is an «Esperanto» of human types with an uncanny familiarity. Is that a poet? A salesman? An aristocrat? A farmer? Unlike Sander’s project, «Ottocento» doesn’t force any labels on the characters, eventually leaving the interpretation open to the viewer. [^S01][^S02]

Those figures are current index observations retrieved on 2026-09-19, not a reconstruction of the original public sale announcement. Atlas position is a catalogue ordinal and is not the on-chain project ID. The live collection page and the Hasura projects_metadata row agree on title, slug, contract, and project ID after a filtered query that used the exact slug. [^S01][^S02]

Contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. Aspect ratio indexed as 1.0. Website https://berubara.xyz/ottocento/.

This essay treats the stored artist program, four independently identified outputs, and a freshly checked AB5D holding (or an explicit collection gap) as primary evidence. Metadata traits are cited only when they were returned for the same V2 contract token IDs that were visually inspected. They do not replace looking at the pictures. [^S04][^S09]

## Conception and development

The official project description is the development account used here. Interview or dossier sentences that name a different slug are not treated as statements about this series. «Ottocento» is a collection of generative portraits of fictional historical figures. The series starts by exploring the nuances of the male figure as represented in the 19th century («Ottocento» in Italian). Further chapters of the project, focusing on different identities, are planned. The illustrations, drawn by hand and then converted to digital, constitute an ironic portrayal of the society of

The development account used here is the specific source named in the citations, not a paraphrase of an artist-dossier page. Where that account is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary. Where an interview exists, the sentences that actually name Ottocento are the ones relied on. [^S07][^S01]

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. [^S02][^S07]

## How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug ottocento-by-berubara was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 95716 bytes with SHA-256 583f71a830a83e04cfbb0cd32d75318db8326f72ab53d8390a01af39ffb19569. Runtime on the project record is js@na. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. [^S03]

The stored generator is 95716 bytes, SHA-256 583f71a830a83e04cfbb0cd32d75318db8326f72ab53d8390a01af39ffb19569, runtime js@na. Detected source markers: tokenData, hash. Named functions include no function keyword matches. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2585x2523px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 165,175,178). File size 433744 bytes. Indexed features: Hat Yes; Name Pasquale O. Schulte; Outfit Black tie; Palette Wells; Birth date 1825; Facial hair Yes

Visual claims come from inspected media-proxy PNGs plus indexed token features.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash is read in source. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Loop behaviour inferred only from source keywords. The inspected PNG is a static frame. A handler found in source is not the same thing as a control that was pressed in a live renderer during this session; tested controls are listed only when an actual key or pointer action was performed. [^S03][^S10]

External dependencies are those declared by script_type_and_version plus any library identifiers inside the file. Public visibility of the stored script does not grant a right to redistribute the raw artist source in this package, so the analysis cites functions and byte length rather than reprinting the program. [^S03][^S06]

## The mint

Indexed chronology for project 374 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2022-11-27T18:07:23+00:00. activated_at is 2023-01-06T20:33:11+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-01-23T18:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2024-02-05T12:18:59+00:00. Invocations stand at 35 of a maximum 35, with complete=true on the retrieved row. [^S02][^S04]

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 40.10 days; activation to start_datetime is 16.89 days; start_datetime to completion is 377.76 days; first mint to completion is 434.76 days. These are differences of indexed clock fields, not a claim about when a web storefront button became visible to every collector. A first mint that precedes start_datetime is treated as an early or reserved mint unless a separate allocation record is produced. [^S02][^S04]

Indexed clocks: first 2022-11-27T18:07:23+00:00, activated 2023-01-06T20:33:11+00:00, start 2023-01-23T18:00:00+00:00, completed 2024-02-05T12:18:59+00:00. Early first-mint timestamps are not labelled reserved without a separate allocation record.

Historic per-token ETH prices for the original public sale were not recovered from a primary price table during this session and remain unresolved. Any floor price visible on a marketplace page in 2026 is a current listing observation, not the 2021 ask. [^S01][^S02]

## Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'CC BY-NC-SA 4.0'. That string includes an explicit 4.0 version and is treated as Creative Commons version 4.0. Code rights for the artist program are not separately labelled on the same field; they are treated as unknown rather than assumed identical to the artwork deed. [^S02][^S06]

Artwork label copied exactly as 'CC BY-NC-SA 4.0'.

Third-party runtime js@na is a separate rights object from both the artwork outputs and the artist source. p5.js, three.js, and ordinary browser JavaScript each keep their own licence texts. This package does not redistribute those libraries. [^S03][^S06]

Original essay prose in this package is dedicated CC0-1.0 by the research operator. That dedication does not change the artwork, code, or dependency licences.

## Close reading of examples

Ottocento #0 is token 374000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2022-11-27T18:07:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2585x2523px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 165,175,178). File size 433744 bytes. Indexed features: Hat Yes; Name Pasquale O. Schulte; Outfit Black tie; Palette Wells; Birth date 1825; Facial hair Yes Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Hat Yes; Name Pasquale O. Schulte; Outfit Black tie; Palette Wells; Birth date 1825; Facial hair Yes.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ottocento #1 is token 374000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-01-23T18:18:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2585x2523px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 208,205,194). File size 405122 bytes. Indexed features: Hat No; Name Charlemagne  Detre; Outfit Casual wear; Palette Kipling; Birth date 1810; Facial hair No Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Hat No; Name Charlemagne  Detre; Outfit Casual wear; Palette Kipling; Birth date 1810; Facial hair No.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ottocento #10 is token 374000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-01-23T18:31:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2580x2523px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 208,179,178). File size 409039 bytes. Indexed features: Hat Yes; Name Chester U. Dietrich; Outfit Black tie; Palette Dumas; Birth date 1822; Facial hair Yes Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Hat Yes; Name Chester U. Dietrich; Outfit Black tie; Palette Dumas; Birth date 1822; Facial hair Yes.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ottocento #20 is token 374000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-14T14:59:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2580x2523px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 205,198,185). File size 386668 bytes. Indexed features: Hat No; Name Ovide G. Krüger; Outfit Black tie; Palette Twain; Birth date 1818; Facial hair Yes Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Hat No; Name Ovide G. Krüger; Outfit Black tie; Palette Twain; Birth date 1818; Facial hair Yes.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

The AB5D header candidate is token 374000024 (edition 24), currently indexed to 0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045, which is one of the three linked addresses returned for username ab5d on 2026-09-19. That ownership match is a present-tense index observation, not proof of continuous custody since mint. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 172,178,184). File size 381426 bytes. Indexed features: Hat Yes; Name Delbert Ibrahim Turner; Outfit Black tie; Palette Bronte; Birth date 1835; Facial hair Yes [^S08][^S04][^S09]

Motion, interaction, and audio: Loop behaviour inferred only from source keywords. The inspected PNG is a static frame. The static PNGs document halt or preview states. They are not by themselves proof that a live loop is still running, nor proof that a work is silent. No soundtrack was heard from these pages during this session. [^S09][^S10][^S03]

## Significance and limitations

Ottocento is project 374 by Berubara on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. The close readings above are the evidence for what the stored program outputs.

Unresolved research questions that remain after this pass: (1) What was the exact public-sale unit price in ETH at start_datetime, supported by a contemporaneous primary source rather than a later floor? (2) For tokens whose live renderer was not stopwatch-timed, what is the measured wall-clock period of one full cycle or one completed progressive draw? (3) What contemporaneous primary source records the original public unit price in ETH? (4) Incomplete Control aside, do any of the three current AB5D wallets later acquire or dispose of the header token used above after 2026-09-19? [^S02][^S08][^S10]

This package is a draft for human review. Structural validation tests file shape, not the truth of seeing or of licence interpretation.

[^S01]: Art Blocks. [Ottocento by Berubara collection page](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/ottocento-by-berubara). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S02]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [projects_metadata record for ottocento-by-berubara](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S03]: Berubara. [Ottocento on-chain artist program](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S04]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [tokens_metadata for sampled Ottocento token IDs](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S05]: Art Blocks. [Canonical token pages for sampled Ottocento outputs](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/374000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S06]: Creative Commons. [Reported artwork licence label CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S07]: Berubara. [Ottocento official description](https://berubara.xyz/ottocento/). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S08]: Art Blocks. [AB5D linked wallet set and profile index](https://www.artblocks.io/profile/ab5d). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S09]: Art Blocks media proxy. [Static PNG renders of sampled Ottocento tokens](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/374000000.png). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S10]: Art Blocks. [Live generator renderer for Ottocento](https://generator.artblocks.io/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/374000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.