Decor
The decorative arts comprise objects that possess artistic qualities and were created by skilled makers, but do not belong to the general categories of painting, sculpture, or architecture. They include, but are not limited to, the decoration and furnishing of interiors, personal adornment, and, later, with the rise of industrialization, product design. From its origin in the mid-nineteenth century, methodology in decorative arts studies concentrated on connoisseurship—dating, attribution, establishment of formal and regional categories—which became increasingly specialized, usually divided by medium and country of origin (French porcelain, English furniture, German pewter, etc.). Since the 1970s, the field has been enriched by trends adapted from social and economic history (patronage and consumption) and anthropology (material culture and behavioural studies) to form a multifaceted investigation of the objects themselves within their context as part of the history of visual culture.
