Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum

Gillian Wilson and Catherine Hess

J. Paul Getty had a passion for the exquisitely made furniture and decorative objects of eighteenth-century France, which he began collecting in the 1930s. Gillian Wilson, who was curator of decorative arts since 1971, broadened and strengthened the collection, adding Boulle furniture, mounted oriental porcelain, tapestries, clocks, ceramics, and more. In the 1980s and 1990s the Getty Museum continued to enlarge its decorative arts holdings, creating a European sculpture department in 1984 and adding glass, maiolica, goldsmiths' work, pietre dure, and furniture from Italy and Northern Europe.

This book is a revised and expanded edition of Decorative Arts: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. In addition to more than forty added acquisitions—among these, four wall sconces from Versailles that once belonged to Marie Antoinette and an elaborate upholstered bed from the collection of Karl Lagerfeld—it includes the results of years of research. Designed for scholars, students, and devotees of the decorative arts, this volume provides a comprehensive look at the Getty's fine collection.

Gillian Wilson is curator emerita in the Department of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Catherine Hess is the former associate curator of sculpture and works of art at the J. Paul Getty Museum.