“Decorative Arts: Imprecise collective term for such art forms as ceramics, enamels, furniture, glass, ivory, metalwork, and textiles, especially when they take forms used as interior decoration. Sometimes designated the ‘minor arts’ to distinguish them from the ‘major arts’ of architecture, sculpture, and painting. See APPLIED ARTS, CRAFT, ‘LOW’ ART.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
