Museum Tour « Collection Highlights & Essays « Door Knocker
Door KnockerZoom Select the image to zoom

Door Knocker

ca. 1475
Spain
Wrought iron
25.6 x 16 cm

Spanish ironwork in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance blended European and Islamic traditions; the resulting strengths made Spanish steel, such as the famous blades from Toledo, much sought after internationally. The benefits were aesthetic as well as technical, especially as revealed by works in the mudéjar style, a hybrid of Christian and Islamic motifs. In the present example, the ironworker has made two screen-like sheets of pierced iron, the uppermost composed of purely European Gothic trefoil and organic motifs, while the underneath unit maintains a network of paisley-shaped holes responding to the Gothic design but also creating an all-over abstract pattern typical of mudéjar design. The wonderful dragon that forms the hammer is so skillfully made that it at first seems to be cast, although it too was the product of careful working.