Brooklyn Museum Decorative Arts

The Brooklyn Museum's decorative arts collection is one of the most significant in the United States, spanning roughly four centuries of American design alongside select European and other holdings. A particular highlight is its collection of American period rooms, which allow visitors to walk through fully reconstructed domestic interiors. The museum also holds substantial collections of Tiffany glass and lamps, reflecting Brooklyn's historical ties to Louis Comfort Tiffany's studio, as well as extensive silver, ceramics, furniture, and textiles that trace the evolution of American taste from the Arts and Crafts movement into Art Deco. The collection includes important Federal and Victorian furniture, English and Continental ceramics, and a well-regarded assemblage of Native American and folk art objects that get grouped with decorative arts in some installations. The museum has been known for interpreting its decorative arts galleries thematically rather than strictly chronologically, pairing historic furniture and objects with contemporary art and design.