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Pair of doors

Pair of doors

  • Place of origin:

    Gannat (made)

  • Date:

    1200-1300 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Oak with wrought iron

  • Museum number:

    M.396-1924

  • Gallery location:

    Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64b, The Simon Sainsbury Gallery, case WS

One of the commonest medieval uses of ironwork was for the protection of wooden doors, such as these, and chests. Both of these object types required strengthening for durability and security, and so elaborate hinges were designed to cover much of the surface and act as both a hinge and a guard. Hinge scrollwork could be extremely elaborate, and was often stamped with dies or chiseled for further embelishment. Iron was expensive in the Middle Ages, and these substantial doors are likely to have come from an important building. The hinge-work on the present doors represent a remarkable survival.

Physical description

A pair of large oak doors with iron hinge straps. The straps, which have been scored with a chisel, terminate in scrolls with angular folliage and are accompanied by a horse-shoe shaped strap in each corner.

Place of Origin

Gannat (made)

Date

1200-1300 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown

Materials and Techniques

Oak with wrought iron

Dimensions

Height: 2.56 m, Width: 1.83 m, Depth: 12 cm

Object history note

From the Fitzhenry Collection.

Historical significance: The history of iron work has been obscured by the corrosive effects of rust, which particularly affects ironwork in contact with the weather. Many of the examples which survive are badly decayed. The hinge-work on the present doors therefore represent a remarkable survival.

Historical context note

One of the commonest medieval uses of ironwork was for the protection of wooden doors and chests. Both of these object types required strengthening for durability and security, and so elaborate hinges were designed to cover much of the surface and act as both a hinge and a guard. Hinge scrollwork could be extremely elaborate, and was often stamped with dies or chiseled for further embelishment.

Towards the end of the twelfth century a new style of ironwork emerged in parts of the Auvergne in France, characterised by the repetition of the Greek honeysuckle or palmette and a tendency to geometric arrangement. The present doors provide a good example of this type however the scoring of the ironwork with a chisel is more common in earlier work.

Descriptive line

A pair of oak doors, four wrought iron crescent hinges with strapwork, made in Gannat, 13th century

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

p.33, fig.36
Campbell, Marian. An Introduction to Ironwork. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1985. 48 p., ill. ISBN 0112904157
Starkie Gardner, J., revised by Watts, W.W., Ironwork: Part I. From the Earliest Times to the End of the Mediaeval Period, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1896 (1978 edn), p. 68, pl. 9.
Opie-Smith, P. Sickle Hinges. Architectural Review. Mar. 1929. pp.151-158.

Labels and date

DOOR HINGES (Mounted on the original door)
Wrought iron
France (Gannat, Auvergne); 13th century
From the Fitzhenry Collection
M.396-1924

Four crescent hinges with strapwork (ornament of interlaced bands). The handle and lock are of later date. [07/1994]

Materials

Wrought iron; Oak

Techniques

Hammering; Forging (metal forming)

Categories

Metalwork; Ironwork

Collection

Metalwork Collection

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