Door (left)
Unknown Artist
early 1400s
Medium
gilded and painted wood (pine)
Dimensions
170.2 × 86.4 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
1915.565.1
About this artwork
Typical of Muslim-inspired ornamentation, these doors reflect a love of geometric decoration stemming from a non-realistic artistic tradition. They consist of applied wood strips that form eight-point stars, flowers, and geometric interlace designs. Such designs are reflected in the tiles, ceramic vessels, and metalwork of Muslim-occupied Spain. The origin of the doors is not known, but they may have belonged to a palace or domestic residence. In 711, the Moors had invaded and conquered nearly t...