Door thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ironwork, Room 114c

Door

17th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Italy (made)

Aumbry door, sheet iron within a framework of wrought iron bars. The flowers are picked out in different colours. Traces of black, brown, gold leaf, yellow oil size, off-white, pale blue, yellow brown size, red glaze, orange red, crimson red, scarlet red, cream, green glaze, green, white and rust.


Object details

Categories
Metalwork
Religion
Christianity
Ironwork
Object type
Door
Materials and techniques
Sheet iron and wrought iron, painted and gilded
Wrought Iron
Sheet Metal
Forging (Metal Forming)
Painting (Coating)
Gilding
Brief description
Ironwork aumbry door, sheet iron with wrought iron bars, painted and gilded, vase with flowers picked out in colours, made in Italy, 17th century
Physical description
Aumbry door, sheet iron within a framework of wrought iron bars. The flowers are picked out in different colours. Traces of black, brown, gold leaf, yellow oil size, off-white, pale blue, yellow brown size, red glaze, orange red, crimson red, scarlet red, cream, green glaze, green, white and rust.
Dimensions
  • Height: 70cm
  • Width: 55cm
  • Depth: 6cm
Gallery label
AUMBRY DOOR Wrought and sheet iron, painted and gilded Italy; 17th century This door probably enclosed a recess or cupboard for sacramental vessels - called an aumbry - in the wall of a church. Traces of a variety of colours including pale blue, red, green and white, as well as the gilding still visible, have been found on the door. The design and techniques used are typical of 17th and 18th-century Lombardy blacksmiths, especially the use of sheet iron within a framework of wrought iron bars. There is a similar panel on the opposite wall of the Gallery. Museum No. 486-1895(07/1994)
Subjects depicted
Vases
Flowers
Bibliographic references
  • Gardner, John Starkie. Ironwork. Part 2: Continental ironwork of the renaissance and later periods. London, 1896. Pl.4, p.10
  • Griggs, W. Iron work : 53 plates, from objects and drawings in the South Kensington Museum, reproduced by W. Griggs. London : W. Griggs & Sons Ltd., 1898. Pl.24
  • Zimelli, Umberto and Giovanni Vergerio. Il Ferro Battuto. Milan, 1966. Pl.36, p.82
  • Encyclopaedia of Ironwork: Examples of hand wrought iron from the Middle Ages to the end of the Eighteenth century. 1927. Pl.129.
  • Höver, Otto. Das Eisenwerk: Die Kunstformen des Schmiedeeisens vom Mittelalter bis zum ausgang des 18 Jahrhunderts. Tubingen, 1961.
  • Lister, R. Art in Iron. pp.113-116.
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
486-1895

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O380316/door-unknown/
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