Lot 05

RENAISSANCE DOOR

The production of wrought-iron doors has been a time-consuming process since the days of ancient Rome. Each piece was crafted by hand in a blacksmith’s shop. An interesting aspect of the process is the practice of punching holes by hand rather than drilling them later. Using a long, sharply blunted spike, holes were punched by hand into red-hot metal sheets, creating the characteristic conical shapes on the inside of the doors. The holes in the sheets were firmly joined with forged rivets. This made the doors exceptionally durable, and many originals have survived to this day in castles, town halls, and townhouses. In the Czech lands, beautiful examples of Renaissance ironwork can be seen, for instance, at the castle in Litomyšl. The doors on offer, likely from the 16th or 17th century and decorated with floral motifs, originally came from three castles that have not survived.