Cizre Bronze Door Knocker 01
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Cizre Bronze Door Knocker 01
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Bronze Door Knocker of the doors of the great mosque of Cizre, South-east Anatolia, Turkey. 12th-13th century AD.
Both of the wooden wings belonging to the door of the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) in Cizre were clad in sheets of bronze and then decorated with brass strips and plates attached with iron nails. The border band has a decoration of quatrefoils fitted using round-headed nails. Each wing has three medallions, each with a 12-pointed star in the centre. The areas in between are filled with half-medallions that make up two half- and two full-medallions along the join when the wings are shut. The spaces in between the medallions and the geometric motifs are filled with metal plates decorated with arabesque-palmette motifs in openwork. Traces of pigment suggest that the background of these motifs was originally painted in red and blue to make them stand out more boldly. The half- and quarter-medallions along the outer edges of the door wings imply that the composition extends to infinity.
Near the centre of the door wings are two loops for mounting the knockers, one of which is now on display in Copenhagen. The cast bronze knocker still on the door is formed of two symmetrical dragons that are engraved and which join at the centre with a lion's head. The dragons, have pointed ears, almond eyes and wings; their scaly bodies loop around in a spiral to form knots, and their tails join and end in eagle's heads.
Magnificent portals of monumental mosques simbolice the gates of Paradise. The naming of the sultan, geometric decoration symbolizing infinity on the door-wings and the dragon and lion motifs on the doorknockers are an expression not only of the divine power of God but also of the power of the sultan.
More amazing images from Ancient Civilizations one copy-paste away at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/ancient+civilizations
Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
March 17th, 2022
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