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Door Knocker with a Wolf or Dog
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Door Knocker with a Wolf or Dog

Door Knocker with a Wolf or Dog

Date: 1500-1599
Dimensions:
H 26.6 x W 9.5 x D 8.3 cm (H 10 1/2 x W 3 3/4 x D 3 1/4 in.)
Medium: Wrought Iron
Credit Line: Acquired by Archer M. Huntington for the Hispanic Society, 1906.
Place Made:Spain, Galicia?
Period: Renaissance / Golden Age
Culture: Spanish
Not on View
DescriptionDoor Knocker with a Wolf or Dog
Galicia?, 16th century
Iron, 26.6 × 9.5 × 8.3 cm
New York, The Hispanic Society of America, R125

PROVENANCE: Lionel Harris, The Spanish Art Gallery, London, 1906; acquired by Archer M. Huntington, New York, for The Hispanic Society of America, 1906

This elegant composition in wrought iron applies the classicism of the Renaissance to a traditional animal motif in the hammer and lingering Gothic elements in the wall plate. The plate has a single tracery layer with relatively wide forms and a plain rectangular border. The hammer, a serpentine body with the head of a wolf or dog, engages the anvil via the curved upper lip of the wolf’s mouth. The body is decorated with three torque rings; the tail curves back elegantly to touch the uppermost ring. The bun-like anvil is divided into four parts by a cruciform design, and its round shape echoes the round hinge. Similar knockers are found in Galicia: Luis Pérez Bueno cites a later example from La Coruña. MB

Texto en Español:

Esta elegante composición de hierro forjado aplica el clasicismo del Renacimiento a un motivo zoomorfo tradicional en el martillo y pervivencias góticas en la placa. Esta tiene una sola capa de tracería, con formas relativamente anchas y borde rectangular liso. El martillo, de cuerpo serpentino con una cabeza de lobo o de perro, golpea el tas con el labio superior curvado de la boca. El cuerpo está decorado con tres torques, y la cola se recurva graciosamente para tocar el más alto de los tres. El tas tiene la forma de un bollo dividido en cuatro por un dibujo cruciforme, y su perfil redondo hace eco al gozne. En Galicia se encuentran aldabas similares: Luis Pérez Bueno cita un ejemplo más tardío de La Coruña. MB

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
BYNE AND STAPLEY 1915 Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley, Spanish Ironwork. New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1915, p. 55, fig. 68
PÉREZ BUENO 1925 Luis Pérez Bueno, Ferros artístics espanyols dels segles xii al xviii, Biblioteca d’art “Vell i nou,” vol. 4. Barcelona: M. Bayes, 1925, p. xlv, fig. 69
DURAND 1938 Anne Sawyer Durand, “Ironwork,” in The Hispanic Society of America Handbook: Museum and Library Collections. New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1938, p. 234
CODDING ( ED. ) 2017 Mitchell A. Codding (ed.), Tesoros de la Hispanic Society: Visiones del mundo hispánico. Madrid, New York: Museo Nacional del Prado, The Hispanic Society of America, 2017, pp. 156-57, no. 55
CODDING ( ED. ) 2018a [Spanish edition] Mitchell A. Codding (ed.), Tesoros de la Hispanic Society of America. Mexico City, New York: Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, The Hispanic Society of America, 2018, pp. 144-45, no. 55
CODDING ( ED. ) 2018b [English edition] Mitchell A. Codding (ed.), Visions of the Hispanic World: Treasures from The Hispanic Society Museum & Library. New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 2018, no. 55

Accession Number: R125