A late-gothic door
Late 15th or early 16th century
Spain, Castellón
250 x 120 x 20 cm; Softwood, probably pine, with layered polychromy. Later panelled refacing to the reverse. Parts of the locking mechanism replaced.
Made to mark off the privacy of a domestic space from the wider civic world beyond, and doing so while delighting in visual splendour and the possibilities of design, this late-gothic door perfectly encapsulates the present catalogue’s entry into the secular realm. It was carved for a house in Sant Mateu, a small town in the province of Castellón, which hugs Spain’s eastern seaboard at the northern end of the Valencian Community.
