Collections of Applied Art

Type:

Luoghi della cultura; Ente/Istituzione

Category:

Art museums; Ethnography and anthropology museums

Initiated in 1877 within the framework of Milan's municipal art museum, the Castello Sforzesco collections of applied art are what now remains of the project for a museum of industrial art. They constitute one of the richest, most significant and best-known sections of the Castello Sforzesco museum complex due to the presence of some masterpieces known throughout the world. We refer in particular to the excellence of the ivory sculptures, the examples of the goldsmith's craft, the fabrics and the tapestries (including the Trivulzio Tapestries of the Months). The collections of ceramics (over 6,000 items in earthenware, majolica and porcelain) and furniture are remarkable in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Attention should also be drawn to the collections of bronzes, leather items, artistic wrought iron and glassware. The exhibition of works is organized on the basis of technical typology with the exception the furniture section, where the various arts connected with cabinet-making over the ages are gathered together for synchronous display in an experimental installation entitled From the Sforza Dynasty to Design.