# Garniture

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[[File:Château de Versailles, salon des nobles, garniture de cheminée (gde pendule « aux chameaux », candélabres « aux grues »), François Rémond, Jarossay.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A garniture of an [ormolu](/source/ormolu) clock and candelabra]]
[[File:Vase with cover (part of a garniture of three vases) MET DP-12374-064.jpg|thumb|Garniture of three [Bristol porcelain](/source/Bristol_porcelain) vases, c. 1773, painted by Michel Socquet.]]
[[File:Dudleyarmor.jpg|thumb|The garniture of [Greenwich armour](/source/Greenwich_armour) for [Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester](/source/Robert_Dudley%2C_Earl_of_Leicester), as recorded in their pattern book, the Jacob album]]

A '''garniture''' is a number or collection of any matching, but usually not identical, decorative objects intended to be displayed together.<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garniture Merriam-Webster]. Retrieved 29 January 2016; From French ''garniture'', defined as ''"assortiment d'objets de même nature"'': [http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/garniture Centre National des Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales]. Retrieved 29 January 2016.</ref> Frequently made of metal, [ormolu](/source/ormolu), often with gilded wood stands, porcelain (both European and Asian), garnitures became popular during the latter half of the 17th century and remained in vogue throughout the 19th century. A very common placement is on the [mantelpiece](/source/mantelpiece) over a fireplace, but garnitures were very often placed on various pieces of furniture, and on ledges or niches around the walls of a room, especially over doors or above fireplaces. Garnitures may contain pieces made together with a view to being used as a set, or may be "assembled" by the decorator from pieces of different origin. 

Most commonly a garniture is a collection of three matching pieces designed for the adornment of a [mantlepiece](/source/mantlepiece); for example: a clock and two flanking [vase](/source/vase)s or [candelabra](/source/candelabra). Often a large central piece is flanked by pairs of smaller ones. Factory records show that some examples of the [Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship](/source/S%C3%A8vres_pot-pourri_vase_in_the_shape_of_a_ship) were bought as garnitures with other smaller shapes decorated in the same colours (which varied greatly between individual examples). [Madame de Pompadour](/source/Madame_de_Pompadour) bought one with two pairs of vases, and another buyer a garniture with one pair of the elephant-headed vases.<ref>[Sassoon, Adrian](/source/Adrian_Sassoon), ''Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collections'', p. 50, 1992, Getty Trust Publications, {{ISBN|0892361735}}, 9780892361731, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U68vAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 google books]</ref> A garniture can also refer to almost any set that might be displayed together. One example is a collection of figurines, candlesticks or [epergne](/source/epergne)s designed to adorn a [surtout de table](/source/surtout_de_table).<ref>Ferguson, Patricia F., ''Garnitures: Vase Sets from National Trust Houses'', 2016, V&A Publishing, {{ISBN|0892361735}}, 9781851779000</ref>

Other uses of the word include a matching array of [plate armour](/source/plate_armour) and its accessories, often with different types of the same pieces for different occasions, known as "pieces of exchange",<ref>"This armour is a garniture: a single armour with a set of alternate and interchangeable pieces which combine to create armours for use in a number of different tournament events", [https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/72834/armour-for-the-field-and-tilt-of-henry-viii "Armour for the field and tilt of Henry VIII, 1539"], [Royal Collection](/source/Royal_Collection)</ref> sets of weapons with their fittings, and in French restaurant terminology, the "trimmings" or [garnish](/source/Garnish_(food)) around the main element of a dish. In French the range of meanings is even wider.

==Notable examples==
* [Khalili Imperial Garniture](/source/Khalili_Imperial_Garniture) from late 19th century Japan

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{commonscat-inline|Garnitures}}

Category:Antiques
Category:Porcelain

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Garniture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garniture) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garniture?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.