Door Lock: Christ on Throne between Two Saints and Angels
Unknown French, French
about 1400
Iron
Overall: 8 × 6 5/8 in. (20.3 × 16.8 cm)
Weight: 2354 g (5.2 lb.)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the William S. Rubin Fund
M.978.18
Geography
Place Made: France, Europe
Period
1400-1600
Object Name
Furnishings: Household Accessory
Research Area
Decorative Arts
On view
Label
The three lockplates in this case, as well as the masterpiece lock elsewhere in the gallery, are not usually categorized as sculpture. While clearly functional and part of day-to-day life, these locks are also aesthetic objects that feature styles and motifs of other genres of sculpture. For example, the gilded 16th-century lockplate covered with reliefs of masks, vases, armor, and classical figures repeats designs seen in prints and metalwork throughout this exhibition. In contrast, the plaquette with the scene of the Annunciation was not originally designed as a lockplate but was altered to include a keyhole behind the figure of the archangel Gabriel, depicted during his announcement to the Virgin that she will give birth to the Christ Child. While many lock designs evoke protection and security, this plaquette-turned-lockplate instead suggests the role of the lock in opening doors, just as the Annunciation marked the opening of Mary’s womb to God.
From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
FREN 22, Medieval and Renaissance French Literature, Andrea Tarnowski, Spring 2022
History 3.01, Europe in the Age of Wonder, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Walter Simons, Winter 2023
Exhibition History
Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.
Provenance
Paul Drey Gallery, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 1978.
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