Door knocker

Central Europe, second half of 17th century

Malleable iron. The round bar is incised, tamped, and set with a ring knob in the centre. The knob serving as the hammer is forged into a wild man’s head. Decorated with grooving.

H: 14 cm / W: 12.5 cm

Markings: “65 I VII” imprint

UMP 3327

Door knockers were available in a diverse variety of shapes. Square and round iron bars could be cold-formed or forged at blacksmiths’ workshops. Bars forged into heart or oval shapes were often hammered out at the centre, which might have been decorated with pierced trefoils or quatrefoils or with repoussage and an openwork band. In the Late Gothic period, plaited branches, snakes, and lizards were used as forms for ring-shaped door knockers. Ring mounts and hammers were often decorated with forged animal heads, usually stags or ibexes with curled horns, but sometimes also wild man masks.