Applied Art
Applied art is a term that not all people will be familiar with, some museums call this part of the collection decorative arts or crafts. We use the term ‘applied art’ because not only do we have beautiful objects that have been designed for functional use such as tea pots and drinking glasses, but the Ulster Museum also has sculptural artworks made in materials that would not be associated with Fine Art.
The applied art collections, which comprise ceramics, glass, silver and metalwork, furniture and wood, costume and textiles, and jewellery has two areas of particular strength, namely the 18th century and the contemporary period.
The historic collections are of predominantly Irish material, and the contemporary are international in scope.
To contact a member of the Ulster Museum curatorial team please download:
the Division of Art Curatorial Staff List
Pottery and Porcelain (Ceramics)
The main strengths of the ceramics collection lie in British and European historic ceramics, Irish ceramics, Oriental and the contemporary. The British and European historic collection comprehensively documents the development of pottery and porcelain from the late 17th century. The Irish collect...
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Glass Collection
The glass collection consists of mainly two areas:
• Historic glass collection
• Contemporary glass collection
The historic collection is made up of mainly English and Irish 18th and 19th century glass. Highlights of the collection include a group ...
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Furniture and Wood
The small, but significant furniture and wood collection comprises mainly Irish material. The collection contains some very fine and important examples of Irish cabinet-making of the 18th century. As well as carved early mahogany pieces there are later 18th century examples of neo-classical style...
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Silver & Metal Work
The historic Irish silver collection has few equals. It shows the skills of the Irish makers and the taste and influence of the aristocratic patron on the styles and fashions of the times. The earliest piece, the Loftus Cup is engraved with the words 'This silver cuppe was made o...
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Costume & Fashion
The Ulster Museum's collection of fashionable dress is over twenty-five years old, recreated after the former collection was destroyed in the fire following the bombing of the building in which it was then stored. We have taken the opportunity to build a distinctive new collection, collecting mai...
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Textiles
Our textiles collection ranges in date from the eighteenth century to the present day. It is a new collection, since our former collection, apart from the eighteenth century tapestries and the 'Lennox Quilt', was destroyed in the fire following the 1976 bombing of the house in which it was then s...
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Jewellery
The Jewellery CollectionThe bulk of the jewellery collection of about 700 pieces is the gift of Mrs Anne Hull Grundy, art and jewellery historian, who gave us a collection dating from the sixteenth to the mid 20th century.Image: Malachite and silver brooch, 1865. Photograph Ulster MuseumThe earl...
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Dolls & Toys
Dolls and ToysThe collection of dolls in the Ulster Museum replaces a previous collection which was lost in the Malone House fire of 1976, and charts the history of doll manufacture from the 18th century to the present day.An English wooden doll of 1790 is the earliest example, followed by a vari...
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Ask an Expert
If you would like further information about this collection you may contact the
curator by following this link and
completing the short form.