portière
{{Short description|Hanging curtain placed over a door or over the doorless entrance to a room}}
Image:Porte.interieure.XIVe.XVe.siecle.png
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons|Portières}}
A portière ({{IPA|fr|pɔʁtjɛʁ|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick-portière.wav}}) is a hanging curtain placed over a door or over the doorless entrance to a room. Its name is derived from the word for door in {{langx|fr|porte}}.
History
From Asia, it came to Europe at a remote date. It is known to have been in use in Europe in the 4th century,{{citation needed|date=October 2007}} and was probably introduced much earlier.{{cite book|editor=Smith, William|chapter=Velum|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.acl4256.0001.001;view=1up;seq=1199|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|year=1870|edition=2nd|pages=1185–1186|location=Boston|publisher=Little, Brown, & Co}} Like so many other domestic plenishings, it reached England by way of France, where it appears to have been originally called rideau de Porte (literally, "door curtain").
Common in wealthier households during the Victorian era, it is still occasionally used either as an ornament or as a means of mitigating draughts. It is usually of some heavy material, such as velvet, brocade, or plush, and is often fixed upon a brass arm, moving in a socket with the opening and closing of the door.
Rising portière
A rising portière is a simple but effective mechanism. It is fastened to both the door and to the wall near the hinge, such that the rail raises itself when the door is opened. This allows the curtain to be long enough to seal against the floor and contain draughts, but not drag on the floor or catch under the door when the door is opened.{{Cite web|url=http://www.changingcurtains.co.uk/curtains/Portiere%20Rods%20and%20Door%20Curtains.htm|title=Portiere Rods and Interlined door curtains}} Rising portières come in different configurations to seal the curtain against different door surrounds.
File:Gucht Portiere of Jakub Zadzik.jpg|Heraldic portière of Jakub Zadzik, Bishop of Kraków, wool, silk, silver and gold, {{circa|1633}}
File:Portière de Bacchus Tapestry.jpg|Portière of Bacchus, wool and silk tapestry, French, 1700s
File:Nouvelle portiere de diane.JPG|New portière of Diane, hung as a wall tapestry, Pierre Jose Perrot, 1700s
File:Portiere with the Chauvelin arms from a set called a Chancellerie MET 174674.jpg|Portière with the Chauvelin arms from a set called a Chancellerie, wool and silk, designed 1679 and 1700, borders {{circa|1720}}, woven 1728–30
File:Portiere MET ADA337.jpg|Portière showing draft-excluding fringe on two sides, silk velvet, cotton, wool, {{circa|1878–1880}}
File:Portiere MET ADA4.jpg|Close-up of draft-excluding fringe
File:Portiere MET h1 2003.48.jpg|Silk velvet, and silk appliquéd and embroidered with silk and wool, silk damask, {{circa|1883}}
File:Portiere MET CT 26078.jpg|Close-up of appliquéd panel
File:Morris_%26_COMPANY,_London_-_Acanthus_porti%C3%A8re_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|Acanthus portière, Morris and Co., silk embroidery on linen, 1890s
File:Portiere MET ADA1.jpg|Design for a portière by Louis Comfort Tiffany, {{circa|1890–1902}}
See also
- Noren (less insulating door curtain)
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{1911|wstitle=Portière}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portiere}}