Object of Ornament

This exhibition arose from a collaboration between participants in a Brown University art-history seminar of Fall 2001 and curators from three departments at The RISD Museum: Costume and Textiles; Decorative Arts; and Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. Studying each department's resources in the area of European ornament, the group examined how the work of artisans in materials such as wood, metal, fiber, and ceramics responded to and participated in the inventions of designers who drew patterns for prints. In the exhibition, related ornamented objects are clustered according to the themes of entertaining, study, dress, and food preparation.

"Participants in the Objects of Ornament project are Professor Evelyn Lincoln, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, Brown University; Curators, Susan Hay, Jan Howard, Thomas Michie, Clare Rogan, Madelyn Shaw, and Jayne Stokes, the RISD Museum, and Brown University students..."