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Collection: Decorative Arts

HIGHLIGHTS

FULL COLLECTION

Leg Splint Vase Folding Invalid Chair Baby Oil Pourer Flask Cabinet-Secretary Tray or Waiter "Normandie" Pitcher Weil-Worgelt Study Sparton Table Radio Vase Cabinet Side Chair (Taburete) Century Vase Tankard Wallpaper and Border Exhibitor Ewer Vase Table Clock Pedestal Salt Shaker Salt or Pepper Shaker, One of Pair Salt or Pepper Shaker, One of Pair Salt Shaker Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano Coffee Pot Corner Chair (Modern Gothic style) Side Chair, Model 304 Armchair Flask Cabinet

COLLECTION HISTORY

The decorative arts collection reflects changes in domestic life and design from the seventeenth century to the present. Included are materials ranging from furniture, silver, glass, and ceramics to period rooms and textiles. Although the collections include some European material, their greatest strength is in American objects.

The earliest pieces of decorative art to enter the collection were silver spoons that came to the Museum in 1902; these were followed the next year by a number of pieces of European porcelain. With the arrival of Luke Vincent Lockwood, a noted collector and scholar, in 1914, the focus of the collections shifted from Europe to America. In 1915, we acquired our first period room; although there are twenty-six period rooms installed in the Museum, because of ongoing construction only five that date from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth century are currently on view. During the 1930s, we began actively exhibiting modern design, focusing on design's relationship to industry.

Our collection of decorative arts is exhibited in our fourth floor galleries and period rooms, and on the fifth floor in the Luce Center for American Art, which includes the Luce Visible Storage • Study Center.

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