MANTEL CLOCKS - are relatively small, moveable clocks traditionally placed on the shelf, or
mantel, above the fireplace. The form, first developed in France in the 1750s, can be
distinguished from earlier clocks of similar size due to a lack of carrying handles.
These clocks are often highly ornate, decorative works. They are most frequently constructed
from any combination of ormolu, porcelain, and wood.
MARQUETRY - Inlaid work used in furniture and flooring, usually of wood,ivory or metal
MELANGE - Mixture of many unrelated elements
MERCURY GLASS - is the common term for silvered glass, which describes glass that was
blown double walled, then silvered between the layers with a liquid silvering solution, and
sealed. Although elemental mercury was used to make mirrors, it was never used in
tableware. Mercury glass was produced from around 1840 until at least 1930, and was made
in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), England, Germany, and the United States. Vases,
goblets and all form of table ware were decorated with a variety of techniques including
painting, enameling, etching, and engraving. Silvered mercury glass is considered to be one
of the first types of luxury art glass, or glass created for aesthetic, not utilitarian reasons.
MESH - Twentieth-century material engineered to give resiliency and bounce to a chair by
replacing conventional upholstery with shaped steel cushioning. Impervious to weather it is
ideally suited to outdoor use
METAL MESH BAG - A handbag made with flexible joined metal links or plates, similar to chain
mail armor, and are a common evening bag style. Some metal mesh bags are painted with
enamel in a solid color or with elaborate designs like peacocks or flowers.
MID CENTURY - Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design term
that generally describes post war developments in design. Mid-century modernism was more
organic in form and less serious than the International Style. Scandinavian designers and
architects were very influential at this time, with a style characterized by simplicity, democratic
design and organic shapes.
Well-known designers of the mid-century modern era include: Alvar Aalto, Al Beadle, Harry
Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames, Craig Ellwood, Max Gottschalk, Ralph Haver, Edith Heath,
Arne Jacobsen, Louis Kahn, Denys Lasdun, Paul McCobb, George Nelson, Richard Neutra,
Isamu Noguchi, Harvey Probber, Jens Risom, Eero Saarinen, , Rudolf Schindler, Avriel Shull,
Alison and Peter Smithson, Raphael Soriano, Hans Wegner, Russel Wright, and Eva Zeisel.
MINIMALISM - By the early 1960s Minimalism emerged as an abstract movement in art (with
roots in geometric abstraction via Malevich, the Bauhaus and Mondrian) which rejected the
idea of relational, and subjective painting, the complexity of Abstract expressionist surfaces,
and the emotional zeitgeist and polemics present in the arena of Action painting. Minimalism
argued that extreme simplicity could capture all of the sublime representation needed in art.
Associated with painters such as Frank Stella, minimalism in painting, as opposed to other
areas, is a modernist movement. Depending on the context minimalism might be construed as
a precursor to the postmodern movement. Seen from the perspective of writers who
sometimes classify it as a postmodern movement, early minimalism began and succeeded as
a modernist movement to yield advanced works; but which ultimately - partially abandoned
this project - when a few artists changed direction in favor of the anti-form movement
MISSION - Crudely but attractively fashioned furniture of early California and the southwest
adapted from furniture in Spanish missions, heavy, dark, simple lines
MOBILE - Abstract sculpture that moves when touched by a breeze of the human hand
MODERN - Furniture designed in present time specifically after 1920, with new materials, such
as plastic, and new methods. Characterized by simple lines, functionalism and little
ornamentation
MODERN ART - is a general term used for most of the artistic work from the late 19th century
until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called Contemporary art
or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then new approach to art which placed emphasis
on representing emotions, themes, and various abstractions. Artists experimented with new
ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art, often
moving further toward abstraction.
MODERNISM - Is a tendancy rooted in the idea that the "traditional" forms of art, literature,
religious faith, social organization and daily life had become outdated; therefore it was
essential to sweep them aside. In this it drew on previous revolutionary movements, including
liberalism and communism. Modernism encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of
existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was "holding back"
progress, and replacing it with new, and therefore better, ways of reaching the same end. In
essence, the modernist movement argued that the new realities of the industrial and
mechanized age were permanent and imminent, and that people should adapt their world view
to accept that the new equaled the good, the true and the beautiful
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More
specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated
cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western
society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism was a revolt against the
conservative values of realism.
MODULE - Standard measurement - applicable to architecture and to furniture design
MOLDED CHAIR - Chair based on a frame that is molded or pressed into shape rather than,
as in former ages, glued and nailed
MOLDING - An ornamental band of wood around a cornice or upper part of a wall used for
decorating or as a place from which to hang pictures
MONOCHROMATIC - A color scheme using one color and its values such as a red and pink
combination
MONDRIAN - Twentieth-century painter whose asymmetric compositions of black lines and
bright blocks or red, yellow and blue on a white ground have had a profound effect on interior
design, suggesting fabrics and furniture arrangement, as well as actual duplication
MOSAIC - Small squares of colored glass set in cement frequently in a pattern.
MOTIF - Design theme reiterated in several forms and different materials throughout a room's
scheme
MURAL - A large picture painted on the surface of a wall or applied as with wallpaper
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