virtu , vertu
n
1 a taste or love for curios or works of fine art; connoisseurship
2 such objects collectively
3 the quality of being rare, beautiful, or otherwise appealing to a connoisseur (esp. in the phrases articles of virtu; objects of virtu) (C18: from Italian virtù; see virtue)
objet de vertu
n pl , objets de vertu another name for object of virtu: see virtu
(French, coined by the British as a translation of object of virtu but literally meaning only ``object of virtue'')
vertu
n a variant spelling of →
virtu