decorative art

noun

1. art that is meant to be useful as well as beautiful, as ceramics, furniture, jewelry, and textiles.
2. Usually decorative arts. any of the arts, as ceramics or jewelry making, whose works are created to be useful.
3. works of decorative art collectively.

Word History and Origins

Origin of decorative art¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

For Gastou, a decorative art and antiques dealer who died in 2020 at age 72, the house, with its faded pale blue cement facade and roughly 40-foot-tall turret, fulfilled romantic fantasies of knights and fortified towers that had taken root during childhood trips to Carcassonne; he grew up near that medieval walled city in Limoux.

From New York Times

While borrowing freely from the French decorative art vocabulary popularized by the Exposition, Seattle architects also incorporated distinct Pacific Northwest images.

From Seattle Times

This 23-story building’s exterior is decorated and capped with stylized floral ornament borrowed from contemporary French decorative art.

From Seattle Times

The swanky new museum will feature master paintings, tapestries, sculptures, decorative art pieces, armory and sumptuous royal furniture collected by Spanish monarchs over five centuries, spanning the empire’s Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties.

From Washington Times

Christie's haute couture auction - which started on Jan. 11 and runs until Jan. 25 - has been attracting mostly fashion and decorative art museums as well as the fashion houses themselves seeking to fill their archives.

From Reuters