Door and Frame
Unknown Artist
late 1400s
Medium
oak with traces of polychromy
Dimensions
278.9 × 104.8 × 14 cm
Classification
Furniture and woodwork
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession Number
1916.2051
About this artwork
This elaborately carved door and frame was intended for use in a protected interior space as suggested by the delicate open tracery above and its use of polychromy. Though its original context is unknown, the door's placement may have been within either a domestic or ecclesiastical building. The inscription in Old French—Mal vit qui ne mande—is enigmatic and has been suggested to translate roughly as "He lives badly who does not ask." The source of the inscription is unclear but may have been a ...