Decorative Art, MAC-MUT
People appreciate the usefulness of things like glassware and furniture, but they appreciate such objects even more when they’re aesthetically pleasing, too. That’s where decorative art comes in. Explore the world of basketry, metalwork, pottery, interior design, tapestry, and more.
Decorative Art Encyclopedia Articles By Title
macramé, (from Turkish makrama, “napkin,” or “towel”), coarse lace or fringe made by knotting cords or thick threads......
magatama, chiefly Japanese jade ornament shaped like a comma with a small perforation at the thick end; it was......
maghribi script, in calligraphy, Islamic cursive style of handwritten alphabet that developed directly from the......
majolica, tin-glazed earthenware produced from the 15th century at such Italian centres as Faenza, Deruta, Urbino,......
Louis Majorelle was a French artist, cabinetmaker, furniture designer, and ironworker who was one of the leading......
majuscule, in calligraphy, capital, uppercase, or large letter in most alphabets, in contrast to the minuscule,......
makeup, in the performing arts, motion pictures, or television, any of the materials used by actors for cosmetic......
maki-e, (Japanese: “sprinkled picture”), lacquer ware on which the design is made by sprinkling or spraying wet......
Makri rug, floor covering handwoven in or near the coastal village of Fethiye, southwest Turkey. These are rare,......
malachite, a minor ore but a widespread mineral of copper, basic copper carbonate, Cu2CO3(OH)2. Because of its......
Maltese lace, type of guipure lace (in which the design is held together by bars, or brides, rather than net) introduced......
Mandarin porcelain, ware produced in China for export in the late 18th century. It is called Mandarin because of......
Manises ware, in ceramics, a style that evolved at Manises, Spain, in the 14th and 15th centuries. It combined......
Manohar was a leading miniaturist of the Mughal school of painting in India, noted for his outstanding manuscript......
mantle, cloak fashioned from a rectangular piece of cloth, usually sleeveless, of varying width and length, wrapped......
marbled pottery, a type of ware obtained by mixing clays of various colours to imitate natural marbles or agate.......
Conrad Marca-Relli was an American artist associated with Abstract Expressionism. He was the first to raise the......
Gerhard Marcks was a German sculptor, printmaker, and designer who helped to revive the art of sculpture in Germany......
Christian Marclay is a Swiss American visual artist and composer whose multidisciplinary work encompasses performance,......
Giovanni Mardersteig was a printer and typographer who, as head of Officina Bodoni, created books exemplifying......
Marieberg pottery, Swedish pottery produced at the factory of Marieberg on the island of Kungsholmen, not far from......
marine style, an innovation in the embellishment of Cretan pottery, developed around 1500 bc and characterized......
Maurice Marinot was a French painter and glassmaker who was one of the first 20th-century glassworkers to exploit......
Daniel Marot was a French-born Dutch architect, decorative designer, and engraver whose opulent and elaborate designs......
marquetry, thin sheets of wood, metal, or organic material, such as shell or mother-of-pearl, cut into intricate......
Marseille faience, tin-glazed earthenware made in Marseille in the 18th century. The Joseph Clérissy factory, active......
Maria Martinez was an American artist who, with her husband, Julian Martinez, pioneered a pottery style comprising......
Mary Gregory glass, variety of glass produced in the United States toward the end of the 19th century in imitation......
Masamune was a Japanese swordsmith. He was appointed chief swordsmith by the emperor Fushimi in 1287. He founded......
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, a sturdy English pottery known as Mason’s Patent Ironstone China. It was first produced by C.J. Mason......
Master E.S. was an unidentified late Gothic German goldsmith and engraver who signed many of his engravings with......
Henri Matisse was an artist often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. He was the......
Herbert Matter was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer known for his pioneering use of photomontage......
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, former aerospace company that was a major U.S. producer of jet fighters, commercial......
Samuel McIntire was a U.S. architect and craftsman known as “the architect of Salem.” A versatile craftsman, McIntire......
Ruby McKim was one of the 20th century’s most innovative American quilt designers. Educated at the New York School......
Bruce McLaren was a New Zealand-born automobile racing driver, the youngest to win an international Grand Prix......
medallion carpet, any floor covering on which the decoration is dominated by a single symmetrical centrepiece,......
Medici porcelain, first European soft-paste porcelain, made in Florence between about 1575 and 1587 in workshops......
meiping, type of Chinese pottery vase inspired by the shape of a young female body. The meiping was often a tall......
Meissen porcelain, German hard-paste, or true, porcelain produced at the Meissen factory, near Dresden in Saxony......
Juste-Aurèle Meissonier was a French goldsmith, interior decorator, and architect, often considered the leading......
Mekri carpet, floor covering handwoven in the Turkish town of Mekri (modern Fethiye), noted for its unusual prayer......
Melas carpet, floor covering handwoven in the neighbourhood of Milâs (Melas) on the Aegean coast of southwestern......
Paulo Mendes da Rocha was a Brazilian architect known for bringing a Modernist sensibility to the architecture......
Mennecy porcelain, a soft-paste porcelain of a particularly light and translucent quality made at a French factory......
Merovingian script, in calligraphy, the writing of the pre-Carolingian hands of France that were derived from Latin......
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
Adam Frans van der Meulen was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in battle scenes. Meulen was a pupil of......
Sir Francis Meynell was an English book designer particularly associated with the fine editions of Nonesuch Press,......
mezza majolica, in pottery, an earthenware body dipped into clay slip and covered with a lead glaze, superficially......
MiG, Russian aerospace design bureau that is the country’s major producer of jet fighter aircraft. It developed......
Mikawachi porcelain, Japanese porcelain of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) from the kilns at Mikawachi on the island......
Milan faience, tin-glazed earthenware (usually called maiolica in Italy) produced by several factories in Milan......
Milanese lace, lace made at Milan in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is a bobbin-made lace, with a design consisting......
Mildner glass, late 18th-century glassware decorated by Johann Josef Mildner (1763–1808) in the Zwischengoldgläser......
milk glass, opaque white glass (as opposed to white, or clear, glass) that was originally made in Venice before......
millefiori glass, (Italian: “thousand flowers”), type of mosaic glassware characterized by a flowerlike pattern.......
millefleur tapestry, kind of tapestry characterized by its background motif of many small flowers. Most often they......
Mimbres ware, pre-Columbian North American Indian pottery of the Mogollon culture of what is present-day southwestern......
minai ware, in Islāmic ceramics, bowls, beakers, tankards, and bottles with enamel painting and gilding on a white......
Minton ware, cream-coloured and blue-printed earthenware maiolica, bone china, and Parian porcelain produced at......
minuscule, in calligraphy, lowercase letters in most alphabets, in contrast to majuscule (uppercase or capital)......
Minyan ware, first wheel-made pottery to be produced in Middle-Bronze-Age Greece. It was found at sites at Orchomenus.......
Joan Miró was a Catalan artist who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from......
Mission style, type of furniture popular in the United States during the turn of the 20th century. The furniture,......
R.J. Mitchell was a British aircraft designer and developer of the Spitfire, one of the best-known fighters of......
mitre, liturgical headdress worn by Roman Catholic bishops (including cardinals, archbishops, and popes) and abbots......
Miyazaki Yūzen was a Japanese painter credited with perfecting a rice-paste dyeing method that made possible the......
moccasin, heelless shoe of soft leather, the sole of which may be hard or soft and flexible; in soft-soled moccasins,......
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian-born American painter, sculptor, photographer, designer, theorist, and art teacher,......
mola, type of embroidered woman’s outer garment, worn as part of the blouse by the Kuna Indians of the San Blas......
molding, in architecture and the decorative arts, a defining, transitional, or terminal element that contours or......
monogram, originally a cipher consisting of a single letter, later a design or mark consisting of two or more letters......
Montpellier faience, French tin-glazed earthenware made at factories in the city of Montpellier, France, from the......
moonstone, gem-quality feldspar mineral, a mixed sodium and potassium aluminosilicate, (K,Na)AlSi3O8, that shows......
morganite, gem-quality beryl (q.v.) coloured pink or rose-lilac by the presence of cesium. It is often found with......
moribana, (Japanese: “heaped-up flowers”), in Japanese floral art, a style of arranging in which naturalistic landscapes......
Stanley Morison was an English typographer, scholar, and historian of printing, particularly remembered for his......
Morris chair, chair named for William Morris, the English poet, painter, polemicist, and craftsman, who pioneered......
William Morris was an English designer, craftsman, poet, and early socialist, whose designs for furniture, fabrics,......
mosaic, in art, decoration of a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously coloured, small......
mosaic glass, glassware made by fusing together pieces of diversely coloured glass. The earliest known glassware—vases......
Mosan school, regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in......
Mosul school, in metalwork, a group of 13th-century metal craftspeople who were centred in Mosul, Iraq, and who......
Moulins faience, tin-glazed earthenware produced in Moulins, Fr., at first a slavish copy of the wares of nearby......
Moustiers faience, French tin-glazed earthenware produced by factories in the town of Moustiers from about 1679......
muff, in wearing apparel, usually cylindrical covering of fur, fabric, feathers, or other soft material, with open......
Mughal carpet, any of the handwoven floor coverings made in India in the 16th and 17th centuries for the Mughal......
Mughal glass, type of glass made in India during the Mughal period (1556–1707). Because imported Persian craftsmen......
Mujur rug, any of the prayer rugs handwoven in Mucur (Mujur, or Mudjar), a village near Kırşehir in central Turkey.......
William Mulready was a genre painter best known for his scenes of rural life and anecdotal genre. Mulready entered......
Murano, island, north of Venice, in Veneto region, northeastern Italy, with an area of 1,134 acres (459 hectares)......
Museum of Arts & Design (MAD), museum in New York, N.Y., dedicated to the collection and exhibition of contemporary......
Museum of Decorative Arts, museum in Berlin housing an important collection of applied arts and crafts. The museum,......
muslin, plain-woven cotton fabric made in various weights. The better qualities of muslin are fine and smooth in......
mustache, hair grown on the upper lip. Since antiquity, the wearing of mustaches, like beards, has reflected a......
Musée de Cluny, in Paris, museum of arts and crafts from the Middle Ages, including the Hôtel de Cluny, which houses......
Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born artist whose multimedia work reflects her distinctive composite aesthetic and a......