Monumental gate, 15th century

“I find this monumental gate from the fifteenth century simply fascinating. Its size (the gate is over 4 metres high) and the cedarwood ornamentation are really impressive! When you walk through this door, you can mentally step into a different, eastern world, with all the fragrances, materials and colours that go with it …” Caroline Blume, Glasmuseum Hentrich

MediumOlder 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

Contact

sammlung@kunstpalast.de

Permalink

https://sammlung.kunstpalast.de/en/objects/54061/monumentaltor

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