302 



The Garden Magazine, July, 1922 



Metropolitan Museum of Art 



FLOWER AND VINE MOTIF ON FRENCH FIREBACK OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



there is no time for copying or measuring a design, save only 

 by the eye, which we never find in the more ornate and more 

 mathematically perfect work of the locksmith, who labored 

 minutely upon his material when cold." (Ffoulkes " Decorative 

 Ironwork.") 



The reason why so much of the medieval ironwork that sur- 

 vives had something to do with doors — such as hinges, locks, 

 knockers, defensive and strengthening bands and bosses — is 

 perhaps that the doors were commonly church doors; also that 

 the fixtures were hard to remove and, if removed, were good to 

 use again for a similar purpose. Even so, few of the examples 

 given by Gardner antedate the 12th century. One notices first 

 the prevalent crescent-shaped hinges — the reason for which 

 no one seems to know — and then the bands elaborated in 

 scrolls and fleur-de-lis. 



The use of stamps or dies seems to have been discovered in 

 the 13th century. The hinges on the Porte Ste. Anne, Notre 

 Dame, are thought by many to be the high mark of supreme 

 smith-work, and it is difficult to see how they could have been 

 forged with only the hammer and stamp, 

 so intricate is the ornamentation. They m 

 mark the climax of ironwork in the 1 3th 

 century. 



There are ornamental lock covers and 

 plates of the 13th century, but it was 

 not until the end of the 14th century that 

 the locksmith became recognized as past 

 master of delicate work on cold iron with 

 chisel, drill, saw, and file. He was called 

 upon for all kinds of elaborate metal work. 

 The Florentine locksmiths were especially 

 famous, although the specimens of Italian 

 locksmithing which have came down to us 

 are in most respects inferior to the French. 

 The "splayed" lock, peculiar to Germany 

 and the Netherlands, is capable of es- 

 pecially graceful design. Locksmithing 

 reached its zenith in the age of Francis I, 

 and after that tended to over-elabora- 

 tion, microscopic detail and incoherence. 

 Amorini and mermaids, garlands, scrolls, 

 and masks, were crowded in until they 

 crowded out all distinct sense of design. 

 Several French kings before Louis XVI 

 were enthusiastic locksmiths. 



Of the rest of the furniture of the door, 



besides hinges and locks, there is a history 

 in ironwork, partly similar, and partly pecu- 

 liar. There was an extraordinary range of 

 design and ornament of keys, knockers, and 

 door handles. That the key was so often 

 symbolic is perhaps one reason why it was so 

 elaborately ornamented, and the design of 

 the bow or handle is apt to be significant. 

 Regarding door-handles " it is a curious fact 

 that, while the hinge and the grille were de- 

 veloping along what may be called national 

 and indigenous lines, the door-handle owed 

 much of its intricacy of decoration to oriental 

 influences; why, it is difficult to determine." 

 (Ffoulkes). The earliest form of door-handle 

 is a ring. Door-knockers were usually either 

 hammer shaped, or a ring — sometimes the 

 ring is bent to a shape like a lyre. 



The Renaissance influence radiated from 

 Italy in ironwork as in all other arts. " Italy 

 stood for magnificence, for sunlight, and for 

 the Roman past — so in the later years of the 

 1 5th century, and wellnigh for two centuries 

 more, the Italian influence was dominant in 

 Europe." 

 As in the other architectural and decorative arts, so in iron- 

 work, the tendency from the 16th century on is toward more 

 elaboration and eventually, incoherence. Design fades away 

 before technical "stunts," and modern taste tends to find greater 

 charm in the earlier work. The hinge was the least affected by 

 this riot of decoration that passed over Europe in the 1 5th and 

 1 6th centuries. The tendency was rather to conceal it. 



THERE are no examples of scrolled iron grilles before the 

 1 2th century. The earlier church screens were pierced 

 marble or bronze. It was the Norman cathedral that developed 

 the northern type of iron grille to enclose its choir and side 

 chapels, and the introduction of French Gothic into Spain in 

 the 13th century (Burgos, Toledo, and Leon) gave a new impetus 

 to the Spanish ironworker through the greater demand, in this 

 type of church, for iron accessories. But the Spanish grilles, 

 or rejas, of the Romanesque churches (Barcelona) were structur- 

 ally composed of upright bars, instead of the northern scroll 

 work rolled from square or flat bars. The scroll screen is a 



Metropolitan Museum of Art 



TULIPS ON A SIXTEENTH CENTURY DUTCH STRONG BOX 



