Decorative Arts, MIR-ORR
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
MirĂł, Joan
Joan MirĂł was a Catalan artist who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from......
Mission style
Mission style, type of furniture popular in the United States during the turn of the 20th century. The furniture,......
Mitchell, R.J.
R.J. Mitchell was a British aircraft designer and developer of the Spitfire, one of the best-known fighters of......
miter
miter, liturgical headdress worn by Roman Catholic bishops (including cardinals, archbishops, and popes) and abbots......
Miyazaki YĆ«zen
Miyazaki YĆ«zen was a Japanese painter credited with perfecting a rice-paste dyeing method that made possible the......
Moccasin
Moccasin, heelless shoe of soft leather, the sole of which may be hard or soft and flexible; in soft-soled moccasins,......
Moholy-Nagy, LĂĄszlĂł
LĂĄszlĂł Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian-born American painter, sculptor, photographer, designer, theorist, and art teacher,......
Mola
Mola, type of embroidered womanâs outer garment, worn as part of the blouse by the Kuna Indians of the San Blas......
Molding
Molding, in architecture and the decorative arts, a defining, transitional, or terminal element that contours or......
monogram
monogram, originally a cipher consisting of a single letter, later a design or mark consisting of two or more letters......
Montpellier faience
Montpellier faience, French tin-glazed earthenware made at factories in the city of Montpellier, France, from the......
moonstone
moonstone, gem-quality feldspar mineral, a mixed sodium and potassium aluminosilicate, (K,Na)AlSi3O8, that shows......
morganite
morganite, gem-quality beryl (q.v.) coloured pink or rose-lilac by the presence of cesium. It is often found with......
Moribana
Moribana, (Japanese: âheaped-up flowersâ), in Japanese floral art, a style of arranging in which naturalistic landscapes......
Morison, Stanley
Stanley Morison was an English typographer, scholar, and historian of printing, particularly remembered for his......
Morris chair
Morris chair, chair named for William Morris, the English poet, painter, polemicist, and craftsman, who pioneered......
Morris, William
William Morris was an English designer, craftsman, poet, and early socialist, whose designs for furniture, fabrics,......
mosaic
mosaic, in art, decoration of a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously coloured, small......
mosaic glass
mosaic glass, glassware made by fusing together pieces of diversely coloured glass. The earliest known glasswareâvases......
Mosan school
Mosan school, regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in......
Mosul school
Mosul school, in metalwork, a group of 13th-century metal craftspeople who were centred in Mosul, Iraq, and who......
Moulins faience
Moulins faience, tin-glazed earthenware produced in Moulins, Fr., at first a slavish copy of the wares of nearby......
Moustiers faience
Moustiers faience, French tin-glazed earthenware produced by factories in the town of Moustiers from about 1679......
Muff
Muff, in wearing apparel, usually cylindrical covering of fur, fabric, feathers, or other soft material, with open......
Mughal carpet
Mughal carpet, any of the handwoven floor coverings made in India in the 16th and 17th centuries for the Mughal......
Mughal glass
Mughal glass, type of glass made in India during the Mughal period (1556â1707). Because imported Persian craftsmen......
Mujur rug
Mujur rug, any of the prayer rugs handwoven in Mucur (Mujur, or Mudjar), a village near KırĆehir in central Turkey.......
Mulready, William
William Mulready was a genre painter best known for his scenes of rural life and anecdotal genre. Mulready entered......
Murano
Murano, island, north of Venice, in Veneto region, northeastern Italy, with an area of 1,134 acres (459 hectares)......
Museum of Decorative Arts
Museum of Decorative Arts, museum in Berlin housing an important collection of applied arts and crafts. The museum,......
muslin
muslin, plain-woven cotton fabric made in various weights. The better qualities of muslin are fine and smooth in......
Mustache
Mustache, hair grown on the upper lip. Since antiquity, the wearing of mustaches, like beards, has reflected a......
Musée de Cluny
Musée de Cluny, in Paris, museum of arts and crafts from the Middle Ages, including the HÎtel de Cluny, which houses......
Mutu, Wangechi
Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born artist whose multimedia work reflects her distinctive composite aesthetic and a......
Muងammadī
Muáž„ammadÄ« was one of the leading court painters during the time (1548â97) that the áčąafavid capital was QazvÄ«n.......
Muáșaffar ÊżAlÄ«
Muáșaffar ÊżAlÄ« was a Persian miniaturist and calligrapher known best for his elegant human figures in rich, lyrical......
MĂ©rida, Carlos
Carlos MĂ©rida was a Guatemalan artist who was known primarily as a muralist and printmaker. From 1910 to 1914 MĂ©rida......
Nabis
Nabis, group of artists who, through their widely diverse activities, exerted a major influence on the art produced......
Nageire
Nageire, (Japanese: âthrown inâ), in Japanese floral art, the style of arranging that stresses fresh and spontaneous......
Nailhead
Nailhead, projecting ornamental molding resembling the head of a nail, used in early Gothic architecture. Nailheads......
nanduti
nanduti, (GuaranĂ Indian: âspider webâ), type of lace introduced into Paraguay by the Spaniards. It is generally......
Nanking porcelain
Nanking porcelain, Chinese blue-and-white porcelain made for export during the Qing dynasty (especially in the......
Nantgarw porcelain
Nantgarw porcelain, an English granular, soft-paste porcelain, pure white in colour, containing bone ash. It was......
nashiji
nashiji, in Japanese lacquerwork, form of maki-e (q.v.) that is frequently employed for the background of a pattern.......
Naskhī script
NaskhÄ« script, IslÄmic style of handwritten alphabet developed in the 4th century of the IslÄmic era (i.e., the......
nastaÊżlÄ«q script
nastaÊżlÄ«q script, predominant style of Persian calligraphy during the 15th and 16th centuries. The inventor was......
Navajo weaving
Navajo weaving, blankets and rugs made by the Navajo and thought to be some of the most colourful and best-made......
needle lace
needle lace, with bobbin lace, one of the two main kinds of lace. In needle lace the design is drawn on a piece......
Needlepoint
Needlepoint, type of embroidery known as canvas work until the early 19th century. In needlepoint the stitches......
nef
nef, European vessel in the form of a medieval ship, often complete with rigging. Although occasionally made of......
Negligee
Negligee, informal gown, usually of a soft sheer fabric, worn at home by women. When the corset was fashionable,......
nephrite
nephrite, a gem-quality silicate mineral in the tremoliteâactinolite series of amphiboles. It is the less prized......
Nesch, Rolf
Rolf Nesch was a German-born Norwegian printmaker and painter who was one of the first artists to use metal collage......
Netsuke
Netsuke, ornamental togglelike piece, usually of carved ivory, used to attach a medicine box, pipe, or tobacco......
Nevers faience
Nevers faience, French tin-glazed earthenware introduced from Italy to Nevers in 1565, by two brothers named Corrado.......
Nevers glass figure
Nevers glass figure, any of the ornamental glassware made in Nevers, Fr., from the late 16th century through the......
Newson, Marc
Marc Newson is an Australian designer known most notably for creating unique household goods, furniture, and interior......
Nicholas Of Verdun
Nicholas Of Verdun was the greatest enamelist and goldsmith of his day and an important figure in the transition......
Niderviller ware
Niderviller ware, French faience (tin-glazed earthenware) and porcelain produced in the 18th and 19th centuries......
niello
niello, black metallic alloy of sulfur with silver, copper, or lead that is used to fill designs that have been......
Ningxia carpet
Ningxia carpet, floor covering woven in Hui Autonomous Region of Ningxia, China, characterized by stylized floral......
Ninsei
Ninsei was a Japanese potter active in KyĆto during the Edo period between the Meireki (1655â57) and the Genroku......
Nishapur pottery
Nishapur pottery, IslÄmic ceramics produced at Nishapur (modern NeyshÄbĆ«r, Iran) that were of bold style and showed......
Northwood, John
John Northwood was an English glassmaker, a technical innovator who sparked a resurgence of British interest in......
Norwich ware
Norwich ware, delft (tin-glazed) earthenware produced in Norwich, Norfolk, Eng., of which little is known. About......
Nose ring
Nose ring, ornament inserted through different parts of the nose for personal adornment and used sometimes to signify......
Nosegay
Nosegay, small, hand-held bouquet popular in mid- 19th-century Victorian England as an accessory carried by fashionable......
Nove ware
Nove ware, primarily majolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, made in Nove, Italy, in the 18th century. The factory......
nymphaeum
nymphaeum, ancient Greek and Roman sanctuary consecrated to water nymphs. The nameâthough originally denoting a......
Nymphenburg porcelain
Nymphenburg porcelain, German hard-paste, or true, porcelain produced in Bavaria from around the middle of the......
NĂŒrnberg faience
NĂŒrnberg faience, German tin-glazed earthenware made at NĂŒrnberg between 1712 and 1840. It is among the earliest......
Obi
Obi, wide sash or belt made of satin or a stiff silk material, worn since ancient times in Japan to secure the......
Oeben, Jean-François
Jean-François Oeben was an influential French cabinetmaker noted for his outstanding marquetry and for his ingenious......
Ogata Kenzan
Ogata Kenzan was a Japanese potter and painter, brother to the artist Ogata KĆrin. He signed himself Kenzan, Shisui,......
Ogata KĆrin
Ogata KĆrin was a Japanese artist of the Tokugawa period (1603â1868), regarded, along with SĆtatsu, as one of the......
ogee clock
ogee clock, clock design that originated in the United States in the 1830s, distinguished by a wooden case whose......
Ohara
Ohara, Japanese school of floral art, founded by Ohara Unshin in the early 20th century, which introduced the moribana......
Oinochoe
Oinochoe, wine jug from the classical period of Greek pottery. A graceful vessel with delicately curved handle......
onyx
onyx, striped, semiprecious variety of the silica mineral agate with white and black alternating bands. Onyx is......
opal
opal, silica mineral extensively used as a gemstone, a submicrocrystalline variety of cristobalite. In ancient......
opaline glass
opaline glass, usually opaque glass or crystal, either white or coloured, made in France between approximately......
opus alexandrinum
opus alexandrinum, in mosaic, type of decorative pavement work widely used in Byzantium in the 9th century. It......
Opus anglicanum
Opus anglicanum, (Latin: âEnglish workâ), embroidery done in England between about 1100 and about 1350 and of a......
Opus interassile
Opus interassile, metalwork technique developed in Rome and widely used during the 3rd century ad, especially appropriate......
opus sectile
opus sectile, type of mosaic work in which figural patterns are composed of pieces of stone or, sometimes, shell......
opus signinum
opus signinum, in mosaic, type of simple, unpatterned or roughly patterned pavement commonly used in Roman times.......
opus tessellatum
opus tessellatum, mosaic technique that involves the use of tesserae (small cubes of stone, marble, glass, ceramic,......
opus vermiculatum
opus vermiculatum, type of mosaic work frequently used in Hellenistic and Roman times, in which part or all of......
orangery
orangery, garden building designed for the wintering of exotic shrubs and trees, primarily orange trees. The earliest......
orb
orb, emblem of royal power, usually made of precious metal and jewels and consisting of a sphere surmounted by......
Oribe ware
Oribe ware, type of Japanese ceramics, usually glazed in blue or green and first appearing during the KeichĆ and......
orient
orient, the faint play of colours on the surface of a pearl...
origami
origami, art of folding objects out of paper to create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional subjects. The......
Orley, Bernard van
Bernard van Orley was a Flemish painter of religious subjects and portraits and designer of tapestries. Orley was......
Orlov diamond
Orlov diamond, rose-cut gem from India, one of the Romanov crown jewels; it is shaped like half an egg, with facets......
ormolu
ormolu, (from French dorure dâor moulu: âgilding with gold pasteâ), gold-coloured alloy of copper, zinc, and sometimes......
Orphrey
Orphrey, highly elaborate embroidery work, or a piece of such embroidery. More specifically orphrey is an ornamental......
Orrefors glass
Orrefors glass, fine 20th-century glass produced by a glasshouse at Orrefors in the south of Sweden. In 1916 and......