Decorative Arts? Between the beauty and the function of objects

Conceived to unite beauty and function, the objects that make up the world of the decorative arts bear witness to artistic creativity, technical advances, global trade and the constant pursuit of refinement and excellence.

Reflecting Calouste Gulbenkian’s eclectic taste, the Gulbenkian Museum holds an extraordinary collection that includes Persian silks, Flemish tapestries, Japanese lacquers, Chinese sculptures in semi-precious minerals, French furniture and goldsmiths’ work, and a vast group of manuscripts and books whose artistic quality raises them to the realm of the arts of the book.

From the intimate to the ceremonial, the devotional to the secular and the contemplative to the scientific, we travel across periods and geographies, discovering cultural worlds as diverse as they are fascinating.