Monumental gate, 15th century
Older wood panels: Aleppo pine, 15th century, added woods, door frame: European pine, probably 20th century, reconstructed wood panels: American redwood, early 20th century
(H x W x D)418 × 268 × 8 cm
Place of originEgypt or Syria
Status
on display, room 001 About the workThis gate is a mystery. There are no clues about its origins in the museum records. The gate was believed to have come from the façade of a building in medieval Cairo or Damascus. New investigations have shown that while some of the wood infills are historic, the frame and central opening are made from European and American timber. This suggests that the gate structure was created in the early twentieth century. In decorative arts museums in the nineteenth century, it was still quite common to present reconstructions of objects. In the various rooms of the Düsseldorf museum dedicated to different eras, only some of the exhibits were historical originals.
AccessionAcquired 1927 from the Kunstgewerbemuseum
Provenance[...]; o.D. ehem. Kunstgewerbemuseum Düsseldorf (1883-1927); 1927 übernommen aus dem Kunstgewerbemuseum
Inventory numberP 2014-1