Lion mask door pull

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Door pulls in the form of lion masks were a feature of many medieval churches throughout the Middle Ages. Such pulls functioned not only as decorative door hardware but also as sanctuary rings, symbols of the protection the church offered to those fleeing legal prosecution and other dangers. This bold example was cast in copper alloy, and the radiating locks of hair representing the mane were reinforced with an engraving tool after casting. Stylistic and elemental analyses reveal that this door pull was likely made in the first half of the fifteenth century in Nuremberg, in southern Germany, where prolific workshops also created impressive aquamanilia (water vessels in animal and human form used for washing hands) and other cast objects. It is strikingly close to a pair of door pulls still found on the doors of the Cathedral of Augsburg, in Bavaria, and another closely related example is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This group of door pulls, and the strong similarities among many aquamanilia made in fifteenth-century Nuremberg, suggest that by the end of the Middle Ages metalwork shops in southern Germany had begun serially producing such objects.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art