door knocker
{{Short description|Device fixed to a door to make a noise}}
{{about|the piece of furniture|the political campaign activity|canvassing}}
Image:Door Knocker MET cdi55-61-32ab.jpg (New York City)]]
{{listen|filename=Door knocker audio.ogg|title=The sound of a door knocker}}
A door knocker is an item of door furniture that allows people outside a house or other dwelling or building to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker has a part fixed to the door, and a part (usually metal) which is attached to the door by a hinge, and may be lifted and used to strike a plate fitted to the door, or the door itself, making a noise. The struck plate, if present, would be supplied and fitted with the knocker. Door knockers are often ornate, but may be no more than a simple fitting with a metal bob, or ring.
Types
German professor Franz Sales Meyer distinguished three kinds of door knocker: the "ring", the "hammer", and an ornate category which could take the shape of an animal or another figure.{{cite book |last1=Franz Sales |first1=Meyer |title=texts A Handbook Of Ornament: With Three Hundred Plates, Containing About Three Thousand Illustrations Of The Elements, And The Application Of Decoration To Objects |date=1896 |publisher=B. T. Batsford |pages=408–410 |url=https://archive.org/details/HandbookOfOrnamentWith300Plates/page/n433/mode/2up/search/%22Door+knocker%22 |accessdate=19 February 2020}} High demand for antique door knockers in the early 20th century in the United States caused forged versions to emerge.{{cite journal |last1=Atlee Barber |first1=Edwin |title=Old Door-Knockers |journal=Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum |date=January 1910 |volume=8 |issue=29 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.2307/3793788 |jstor=3793788}}
Gallery
File:Celtic Door Knocker.jpg|A British cast iron door knocker
File:Germany Augsburg Dom-St-Maria Door Handle.jpg|"Ring of Mercy" on the Dom (Cathedral) St. Maria. of Augsburg.
File:Bulguksa temple Dragonhead door-knocker.jpg|Dragonhead door knockers, Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju, South Korea
File:Door knocker, N'Kob.jpg|Hamsa door knocker in Morocco
File:Harderwijk klopper.jpg|Angel door knocker in Harderwijk, the Netherlands
File:Door knocker from Venezia.JPG|Door knocker in Venice
File:Heurtoir Orléans mai 2008.jpg|Door knocker in Orléans, France
File:Haj Ali Bulagi House door knocker.jpg|Door knocker in Haji Bulagi House, Iran
File:Behnam house's door knocker 001.jpg|Door knocker in Behnam House, Iran
File:Door in Fez with two knockers.jpg|A door in Fez, Morocco with two knockers. Traditionally, one was used by women and the other by men (see top left).
File:Puerta del Archivo Histórico de Querétaro (detalle de la aldaba).jpg|Door knocker depicting an Eagle warrior in Querétaro, Mexico.
File:Sahún - Llamador 01.jpg|Hand-shaped door knocker in Spain
File:Kołatka Biblioteka Raczyńskich.jpg|Lion head door knocker at the Raczyńskich Library
File:Assezat-heurtoir.jpg|Renaissance door knocker in Toulouse, France
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Door knockers}}
- [https://www.atidoor.com/ Automatic Glass Door]
- Heurtoir - French architecture
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