Decorative Arts, LIS-MIN
People appreciate the usefulness of things like glassware and furniture, but they appreciate such objects even more when theyâre aesthetically pleasing, too. Thatâs where decorative art comes in. Explore the world of basketry, metalwork, pottery, interior design, tapestry, and more.
Decorative Arts Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Lishu
Lishu, in Chinese calligraphy, a style that may have originated in the brush writing of the later Zhou and Qin......
Lissitzky, El
El Lissitzky was a Russian painter, typographer, and designer, a pioneer of nonrepresentational art in the early......
lithophane
lithophane, biscuit, or unglazed, white porcelain decorated with a molded or impressed design, usually reproducing......
litter
litter, portable bed or couch, open or enclosed, that is mounted on two poles and carried at each end on the shoulders......
Liverpool delft
Liverpool delft, tin-glazed earthenware made from about 1710 to about 1760 in Liverpool, Eng., which, along with......
Liverpool porcelain
Liverpool porcelain, soft-paste porcelain, rather heavy and opaque, produced between 1756 and 1800 in various factories......
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Lockheed Martin Corporation, major American diversified company with core business concentrations in aerospace......
Loden coat
Loden coat, jacket of Tyrolean origin, made of loden cloth, which was first handwoven by peasants living in Loderers,......
Loincloth
Loincloth, usually, a rectangular piece of cloth draped around the hips and groin. One of the earliest forms of......
Longquan ware
Longquan ware, celadon stoneware produced in kilns in the town of Longquan (province of Zhejiang), China, from......
Longton Hall porcelain
Longton Hall porcelain, a soft-paste English porcelain produced for only about 10 years (1749â60). It is both heavy......
loom
loom, machine for weaving cloth. The earliest looms date from the 5th millennium bc and consisted of bars or beams......
Lotto carpet
Lotto carpet, pile floor covering handwoven in Turkey, so called because carpets of this design appear in several......
Louis XIV style
Louis XIV style, visual arts produced in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1638â1715). The man most influential......
Louis XV style
Louis XV style, in the decorative arts, a Rococo style characterized by the superior craftsmanship of 18th-century......
Louis XVI style
Louis XVI style, visual arts produced in France during the reign (1774â93) of Louis XVI, which was actually both......
Loutherbourg, Philip James de
Philip James de Loutherbourg was an early Romantic painter, illustrator, printmaker, and scenographer, especially......
Love seat
Love seat, wide chair capable of, if not necessarily designed for, accommodating two people, whose intentions are......
loving cup
loving cup, large, two-handled cup, often made of silver, that may take many forms. In the past, at weddings, banquets,......
Lowboy
Lowboy, antiquarian term for a small dressing table with four or six legs and two or three drawers, resembling......
Lowestoft porcelain
Lowestoft porcelain, English phosphatic soft-paste ware, resembling Bow porcelain, produced in Lowestoft, Suffolk,......
Ludwigsburg ware
Ludwigsburg ware, faience and porcelain earthenwares made at Ludwigsburg, WĂŒrttemberg (Germany), between 1736 and......
Lunéville faience
Lunéville faience, tin-glazed earthenware, faience fine, and a kind of unglazed faience fine produced from 1723......
Luristan Bronze
Luristan Bronze, any of the horse trappings, utensils, weapons, jewelry, belt buckles, and ritual and votive objects......
Lurçat, Jean
Jean Lurçat was a French painter and designer who is frequently called the most instrumental figure in reviving......
lustred glass
lustred glass, art glass in the Art Nouveau style. It is a delicately iridescent glass with rich colours. Lustred......
lustreware
lustreware, type of pottery ware decorated with metallic lustres by techniques dating at least from the 9th century.......
Lyon faience
Lyon faience, tin-glazed earthenware produced at Lyon, from the 16th century to 1770. Originally made by Italian......
LĂ©ger, Fernand
Fernand LĂ©ger was a French painter who was deeply influenced by modern industrial technology and Cubism. He developed......
LÄjvard ware
LÄjvard ware, type of vase from KÄshÄn, Iran, mentioned in AbĆ« al-QÄsimâs treatise on ceramics (1301). Vases were......
Mackie, Bob
Bob Mackie was an American costume designer noted for his extravagant and inventive style, characterized by meticulously......
Mackintosh
Mackintosh, waterproof outercoat or raincoat, named after a Scottish chemist, Charles Macintosh (1766â1843), who......
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and designer who was a leader of the Glasgow style in Great......
Mackmurdo, Arthur Heygate
Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo was an English architect, designer, and a pioneer of the English Arts and Crafts movement.......
macramé
macramĂ©, (from Turkish makrama, ânapkin,â or âtowelâ), coarse lace or fringe made by knotting cords or thick threads......
Magatama
Magatama, chiefly Japanese jade ornament shaped like a comma with a small perforation at the thick end; it was......
maghribi script
maghribi script, in calligraphy, Islamic cursive style of handwritten alphabet that developed directly from the......
majolica
majolica, tin-glazed earthenware produced from the 15th century at such Italian centres as Faenza, Deruta, Urbino,......
Majorelle, Louis
Louis Majorelle was a French artist, cabinetmaker, furniture designer, and ironworker who was one of the leading......
majuscule
majuscule, in calligraphy, capital, uppercase, or large letter in most alphabets, in contrast to the minuscule,......
makeup
makeup, in the performing arts, motion pictures, or television, any of the materials used by actors for cosmetic......
maki-e
maki-e, (Japanese: âsprinkled pictureâ), lacquer ware on which the design is made by sprinkling or spraying wet......
Makri rug
Makri rug, floor covering handwoven in or near the coastal village of Fethiye, southwest Turkey. These are rare,......
malachite
malachite, a minor ore but a widespread mineral of copper, basic copper carbonate, Cu2CO3(OH)2. Because of its......
Maltese lace
Maltese lace, type of guipure lace (in which the design is held together by bars, or brides, rather than net) introduced......
Mandarin porcelain
Mandarin porcelain, ware produced in China for export in the late 18th century. It is called Mandarin because of......
Manises ware
Manises ware, in ceramics, a style that evolved at Manises, Spain, in the 14th and 15th centuries. It combined......
Manohar
Manohar was a leading miniaturist of the Mughal school of painting in India, noted for his outstanding manuscript......
Mantle
Mantle, cloak fashioned from a rectangular piece of cloth, usually sleeveless, of varying width and length, wrapped......
marbled pottery
marbled pottery, a type of ware obtained by mixing clays of various colours to imitate natural marbles or agate.......
Marca-Relli, Conrad
Conrad Marca-Relli was an American artist associated with Abstract Expressionism. He was the first to raise the......
Marcks, Gerhard
Gerhard Marcks was a German sculptor, printmaker, and designer who helped to revive the art of sculpture in Germany......
Marclay, Christian
Christian Marclay is a Swiss American visual artist and composer whose multidisciplinary work encompasses performance,......
Mardersteig, Giovanni
Giovanni Mardersteig was a printer and typographer who, as head of Officina Bodoni, created books exemplifying......
Marieberg pottery
Marieberg pottery, Swedish pottery produced at the factory of Marieberg on the island of Kungsholmen, not far from......
Marine style
Marine style, an innovation in the embellishment of Cretan pottery, developed around 1500 bc and characterized......
Marinot, Maurice
Maurice Marinot was a French painter and glassmaker who was one of the first 20th-century glassworkers to exploit......
Marot, Daniel
Daniel Marot was a French-born Dutch architect, decorative designer, and engraver whose opulent and elaborate designs......
Marquetry
Marquetry, thin sheets of wood, metal, or organic material, such as shell or mother-of-pearl, cut into intricate......
Marseille faience
Marseille faience, tin-glazed earthenware made in Marseille in the 18th century. The Joseph Clérissy factory, active......
Martinez, Maria
Maria Martinez was an American artist who, with her husband, Julian Martinez, pioneered a pottery style comprising......
Mary Gregory glass
Mary Gregory glass, variety of glass produced in the United States toward the end of the 19th century in imitation......
Masamune
Masamune was a Japanese swordsmith. He was appointed chief swordsmith by the emperor Fushimi in 1287. He founded......
Mask
Mask, a form of disguise or concealment usually worn over or in front of the face to hide the identity of a person......
Mason ware
...
Master E.S.
Master E.S. was an unidentified late Gothic German goldsmith and engraver who signed many of his engravings with......
Matisse, Henri
Henri Matisse was an artist often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. He was the......
Matter, Herbert
Herbert Matter was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer known for his pioneering use of photomontage......
McDonnell Douglas Corporation
McDonnell Douglas was a major U.S. producer of commercial aircraft, military aircraft, and space systems until......
McIntire, Samuel
Samuel McIntire was a U.S. architect and craftsman known as âthe architect of Salem.â A versatile craftsman, McIntire......
McKim, Ruby
Ruby McKim was one of the 20th centuryâs most innovative American quilt designers. Educated at the New York School......
McLaren, Bruce
Bruce McLaren was a New Zealand-born automobile racing driver, the youngest to win an international Grand Prix......
medallion carpet
medallion carpet, any floor covering on which the decoration is dominated by a single symmetrical centrepiece,......
Medici porcelain
Medici porcelain, first European soft-paste porcelain, made in Florence between about 1575 and 1587 in workshops......
Meiping
Meiping, type of Chinese pottery vase inspired by the shape of a young female body. The meiping was often a tall......
Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain, German hard-paste, or true, porcelain produced at the Meissen factory, near Dresden in Saxony......
Meissonier, Juste-AurĂšle
Juste-AurĂšle Meissonier was a French goldsmith, interior decorator, and architect, often considered the leading......
Mekri carpet
Mekri carpet, floor covering handwoven in the Turkish town of Mekri (modern Fethiye), noted for its unusual prayer......
Melas carpet
Melas carpet, floor covering handwoven in the neighbourhood of MilĂąs (Melas) on the Aegean coast of southwestern......
Mendes da Rocha, Paulo
Paulo Mendes da Rocha was a Brazilian architect known for bringing a Modernist sensibility to the architecture......
Mennecy porcelain
Mennecy porcelain, a soft-paste porcelain of a particularly light and translucent quality made at a French factory......
Merovingian script
Merovingian script, in calligraphy, the writing of the pre-Carolingian hands of France that were derived from Latin......
Merry and Bright: 8 Jolly Christmas Plants
Deck the halls, trim the tree, and sneak a kiss under the mistletoe! A surprising number of plants are involved......
metalwork
metalwork, useful and decorative objects fashioned of various metals, including copper, iron, silver, bronze, lead,......
- Introduction
- Enamelling, Artistry, Techniques
- Craftsmanship, Techniques, Artistry
- Islamic Art, Craftsmanship, Techniques
- Bronze, Brass, Casting
- Greek Art, Crafts, Tools
- Byzantine, Middle Ages, Craftsmanship
- Medieval, Craftsmanship, Artistry
- Italian Renaissance, Bronze, Iron
- English Craftsmanship, Iron Age, Bronze Age
- Silver, Gold, Craftsmanship
- Greek, Etruscan, Crafts
- Medieval Crafts, Techniques, Art
- Craftsmanship, Artistry, Technology
- Craftsmanship, Ornamentation, Decoration
- Pewter, Casting, Alloying
- Ancient Crafts, Techniques, Artifacts
- Craftsmanship, Techniques, Artistry
- Iron, Casting, Forging
- Belgium, Holland, Crafts
- French Art, Crafts, Techniques
- German Craftsmanship, Techniques, & Artistry
- Spanish, Craftsmanship, Artistry
- Casting, Forging, Finishing
- African, Asian, Oceanic
- East Asian, Craftsmanship, Techniques
- Korean Craftsmanship, Techniques, & Artistry
- Japanese Craftsmanship, Techniques, & Artistry
- American Indian, Crafts, Art
- African Crafts, Techniques, & Traditions
Meulen, Adam Frans van der
Adam Frans van der Meulen was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in battle scenes. Meulen was a pupil of......
Meynell, Sir Francis
Sir Francis Meynell was an English book designer particularly associated with the fine editions of Nonesuch Press,......
mezza majolica
mezza majolica, in pottery, an earthenware body dipped into clay slip and covered with a lead glaze, superficially......
MiG
MiG, Russian aerospace design bureau that is the countryâs major producer of jet fighter aircraft. It developed......
Mikawachi porcelain
Mikawachi porcelain, Japanese porcelain of the Tokugawa period (1603â1867) from the kilns at Mikawachi on the island......
Milan faience
Milan faience, tin-glazed earthenware (usually called maiolica in Italy) produced by several factories in Milan......
Milanese lace
Milanese lace, lace made at Milan in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is a bobbin-made lace, with a design consisting......
Mildner glass
Mildner glass, late 18th-century glassware decorated by Johann Josef Mildner (1763â1808) in the ZwischengoldglĂ€ser......
milk glass
milk glass, opaque white glass (as opposed to white, or clear, glass) that was originally made in Venice before......
millefiori glass
millefiori glass, (Italian: âthousand flowersâ), type of mosaic glassware characterized by a flowerlike pattern.......
millefleur tapestry
millefleur tapestry, kind of tapestry characterized by its background motif of many small flowers. Most often they......
Mimbres ware
Mimbres ware, pre-Columbian North American Indian pottery of the Mogollon culture of what is present-day southwestern......
Minai ware
Minai ware, in IslÄmic ceramics, bowls, beakers, tankards, and bottles with enamel painting and gilding on a white......
Minton ware
Minton ware, cream-coloured and blue-printed earthenware maiolica, bone china, and Parian porcelain produced at......
minuscule
minuscule, in calligraphy, lowercase letters in most alphabets, in contrast to majuscule (uppercase or capital)......
Minyan ware
Minyan ware, first wheel-made pottery to be produced in Middle-Bronze-Age Greece. It was found at sites at Orchomenus.......