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

Mosaic, as is well-known, is the most permanent of all the processes of decorative art.

From Project Gutenberg

Even where the primitive era transcended a merely magical or decorative art, it did not advance beyond memorial art.

From Project Gutenberg

Raphael admired, and caused his pupils to imitate and copy them; and they influenced all decorative art for a considerable period.

From Project Gutenberg

This seems a truism, but the neglect of these plain axioms causes many mistakes in decorative art.

From Project Gutenberg

The downfall of decorative art, domestic as well as national, kept pace with the downfall of the Roman Empire.

From Project Gutenberg