Product Design & Decorative Arts
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s department of Product Design & Decorative Arts is home to approximately 40,000 three-dimensional objects dating from antiquity to the 21st century, which form an important and comprehensive resource for decorative art and design. International in scope, the collection contains an exceptionally diverse assortment of objects, reflecting a vast range of historical styles and design movements. Categories of objects within the collections include Ceramics, Furniture, Metalwork, Lighting, Glass, Jewelry, Architectural Elements, and Industrial Design.
Special strengths:
- Metzenburg Collection of historic cutlery
- Shapiro Collection of Soviet porcelains
- Brener Collection of matchsafes
- early 19th-century Irish cut glass
- 18th-century gilt-bronze furniture mounts from France
- a unique selection of 19th-century jewelry including works by Castellani as well as Giuliano
- Japanese tsuba (sword fittings) from the 17th to the 19th century
- designs by Peter Behrens, Walter Dorwin Teague, Christopher Dresser, Henry Dreyfuss, Charles Eames, Hector Guimard, Russel Wright, Eva Zeisel, and countless other designers
Please note: Effective October 1, 2008, the Product Design and Decorative Arts department will be closed for appointments until further notice. We regret any inconvenience and will update this website when appointments resume.
Phone: 212.849.8484
Fax: 212.849.8490
Email:
ch-pdda@si.edu