GETTY COLLECTIONS

Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum

Gillian Wilson and Catherine Hess

2002

320 pages

PDF file size: 26.7 MB


Description

J. Paul Getty had a passion for the exquisitely made furniture and decorative objects of eighteenth-century France, which he began collecting in the 1930s. Gillian Wilson, curator of decorative arts since 1971, has broadened and strengthened the collection, adding Boulle furniture, mounted oriental porcelain, tapestries, clocks, ceramics, and more. In the 1980s and 1990s the Museum continued to enlarge its decorative arts holdings, creating a European sculpture department in 1984 and adding glass, maiolica, goldsmiths’ work, pietre dure, and furniture from Italy and Northern Europe.

This book is a revised and expanded edition of Decorative Arts: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum (1993). In addition to more than forty recent acquisitions—among these four wall sconces from Versailles that once belonged to Marie Antoinette and an elaborate upholstered bed from the collection of Karl Lagerfeld—it includes the results of years of research. Designed for scholars, students, and devotees of the decorative arts, this volume provides a comprehensive look at the Getty’s fine collection.

Table of Contents

  • Foreword
  • Preface and Acknowledgments
  • Bibliographical Abbreviations
  • Part I
    Part I is organized first by country of origin (France), then by type of object.
  • French Decorative Arts
    • Furniture
    • Architectural Woodwork and Fixtures
    • Clocks and Barometers
    • Scientific Instruments
    • Metalwork
    • Ceramics
    • Mounted Oriental Porcelain
    • Mounted Hardstones and Glass
    • Textiles
    • Carpets and Screens
    • Tapestries
    • Decorative Drawings
  • Part II
    Part II is organized first by type of object, then alphabetically by country of origin.
  • Architectural Woodwork
    • German
  • Ceramics
    • Austrian
    • Chinese
    • English
    • German
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Spanish
  • Clocks
    • German
    • Italian
  • Furniture
    • English
    • German
    • Italian
    • Netherlandish
    • South Indian
  • Glass
    • Austrian
    • Bohemian
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • Netherlandish
  • Hardstones
    • English
    • Italian
  • Ivory
    • German
  • Metalwork
    • English
    • German
    • Italian
    • Netherlandish
    • Spanish
  • Mosaics
    • Italian
  • Scagliola
    • German
  • Textiles and Carpets
    • Chinese
    • Persian
  • Glossary of Woods
  • Indexes
    • Index of Makers
    • Index of Previous Owners
  • Concordance

About the Authors

Gillian Wilson is curator of decorative arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Catherine Hess is associate curator of sculpture and works of art at the Getty Museum.