Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 60
Two Safavid steel Door Knockers Persia, 17th Century(2)
23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £8,750 inc. premium
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Two Safavid steel Door Knockers
Persia, 17th Century
Persia, 17th Century
the first in the form of two dragon heads with extended tongues forming a loop with suspended palmette, engraved with hatched decoration; the second in the form of a stylised dragon head with extended tongue engraved with geometric designs; each with openwork steel plaque of circular form made up of a series of interlocking palmettes, surmounted by a large openwork palmette motif, mounted
46 cm. high(2)
46 cm. high(2)
Footnotes
Steel was widely used in the Safavid period in an architectural context. The oldest recorded use of iron or steel plaques decorating a door is mentioned in a palace built for Bidun Mukhar Khudah, the ruler of Bukhara, just before the Arab conquest. Doors decorated with gold and silver are present in manuscript miniatures from the period of Shah Tahmasp and we know of 19th century travellers to Iran who commented on gates to the royal palaces and to religious edifices "covered with plates of iron and steel, inlaid throughout with very fine gold work..." (J. Allan and B. Gilmore, Persian Steel, Oxford, 2000, 292-294).
There are numerous published examples of steel door plaques including the most well-known, a series of eleven rectangular gold plaques bearing Persian poetry ordered by Shah Abbas I for the Shrine of the Imam Riza in Mashad (see Arts ofIslam, exhibition catalogue, The Hayward Gallery, London, 1976, no. 247). The surviving plaques occur in a variety of shapes, the most common being rectangular and oval.
The above plaques belong to a group designed specifically as a splendid display for an elaborate set of doorknockers. An openwork example designed for this use is listed by Allan and Gilmor (op cit, F.3) dated to the 17th century which would have had a large ring and s-shape hook or dragon knocker. Doors in many cities of Iran are particularly notable for their use of heavy metal knockers and knobs. These elaborate plaques and large knockers are a good example of the more massive type of steelwork produced in Iran for architectural settings.