Search Met Collection
met_search_collectionsRead-onlyIdempotent
Search the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection by keyword and optional filters. Returns the total match count and a page of matching object IDs, which met_get_object resolves to full records. Relevance is keyword-based, not semantic; department and geographic filters narrow results more than a longer query. The medium parameter maps to the classification field (pass "Paintings", "Drawings", etc., not material descriptions like "Oil on canvas"). isPublicDomain guarantees CC0-licensed images; hasImages also includes copyrighted works. isOnView restricts results to works currently on display in a Met gallery.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| q | Yes | Keyword query, matched across title, artist name, culture, medium, tags, and other text fields. Broad terms return large ID sets. | |
| limit | No | Maximum number of object IDs to return from the full result set. The Met search returns every match (up to tens of thousands); this caps how many IDs are returned. | |
| medium | No | Filter by object classification (e.g., "Paintings", "Drawings", "Prints", "Ceramics", "Sculpture", "Photographs", "Textiles"). Maps to the classification field on the object, not the materials/medium text field — pass a classification category name, not a material description like "Oil on canvas". | |
| offset | No | Zero-based index into the full result set to start from (default 0). The nextOffset from a previous response is the value to pass here for the next page; a broad query carries the same timeout risk on every page, so narrow it with filters if paging times out. An offset at or beyond total returns an empty page, not an error. | |
| dateEnd | No | Latest object date (year, inclusive). Negative integers for BCE. Requires dateBegin. | |
| isOnView | No | When true, restricts results to objects currently on display in a Met gallery. The GalleryNumber field on the met_get_object record identifies the specific gallery. | |
| dateBegin | No | Earliest object date (year, inclusive). Negative integers for BCE (e.g., -500 for 500 BCE). Requires dateEnd. | |
| hasImages | No | When true, restricts results to objects that have at least one associated image, including copyrighted works whose images cannot be reproduced. isPublicDomain is the filter for freely reusable CC0 images. | |
| geoLocation | No | Filter by geographic origin. Each value is matched broadly against geography fields and artist nationality. Multiple values are AND-combined — ["France", "Egypt"] returns objects associated with both, not either, so more values narrow the result set. Works best with the Egyptian Art, Greek and Roman Art, and similar departments that have well-populated geography fields. | |
| isHighlight | No | When true, restricts to objects the Met has designated as highlights — major works central to the collection. | |
| departmentId | No | Restrict results to one curatorial department. Valid IDs come from met_list_departments — the Met exposes a sparse set (roughly 1–21, with gaps); an unrecognized ID is rejected with an invalid_department error rather than silently returning no matches. Can be combined with other filters; combining with isPublicDomain works but returns far fewer results than expected. | |
| isPublicDomain | No | When true, restricts results to objects released under CC0 open access — free to use without permission or attribution. These objects return direct high-resolution image URLs in met_get_object. Combining with departmentId works but returns far fewer results, since the search index covers only a subset of public-domain objects per department. |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| total | No | Total number of matching objects in the Met collection (may far exceed the returned IDs). | |
| returned | No | Count of object IDs in this response — may be less than `total` when the full result set was truncated by `limit`. | |
| objectIDs | No | Object IDs for this page, up to `limit` results. | |
| remaining | No | Count of matching object IDs after this page: total − (offset + returned), floored at 0. 0 means this is the last page. | |
| truncated | No | True when matching IDs remain beyond this page (offset + returned < total); false when this page is the last. | |
| nextOffset | No | The offset to pass on the next call to continue paging, or null when the result set is exhausted (truncated is false). |