Antique Parquetry Doors with Transom Window

Description

An imposing set of antique doors with dark wood and carved and parquetry detailing, a stylized transom window. These have … more An imposing set of antique doors with dark wood and carved and parquetry detailing, a stylized transom window. These have elements of different styles, a bit Rococo, a bit Victorian, a bit Art Nouveau. The interior (more plain side) is very evocative of Art Nouveau, the exterior side has carved flourishes in a mix of styles, including a stylized Rococo scallop shell motif with floral scroll edge, atop that sections with a cut diamond pattern, and above those a section of classical moulding motif ending in an acanthus type scroll. The doors together are approximately 47.5“ wide, x 128“ tall at center x 124.5“ tall at sides. Total door + transom and frame approximately 160“ tall at center. The width of the doors + frame measured across the door section is approximately 54.5", there is a portion where the frame is slightly wider than this at the top sides of the transom. All measurements are approximate, please allow for this, the depth measurement below is a reasonable estimate. The wood is a beautifully grained hardwood.

Please excuse the temporary cross braces seen across the interior side of these doors, they are just temporary bracing to keep these together while they aren't installed. These have been stored for a very long time and these braces were on them.

This has several gouges in the wood on the left door (as seen from the ornate side). The acanthus leaf curl decoration is worn down but has been finessed to be subtle (see left door near top, compare to one on other door. The bottom of one of the doors/ casing is a bit gnarled (see detail from below), it will need to be filled with wood putty or cut down, wood putty should work fine though. A little bit of wood missing off of the tips of the floral flourish at the inside edges of the shell motif (see the bottom tips of these in detail photos, you can sort of see a ghost of what was there on the door). The transom window is partially broken out/ cracked, it is missing some of the trim that holds the windows in on the transom. This has expansion cracks on the doors along the joint and a missing piece of trim at the center where these meet at the top of the doors (see between and above the carved details). There is a bit of other damage here and there to the wood, but nothing too substantial. On the non ornate side there are various holes and little bits of damage from where other hardware used to be. This could be remedied with new hardware that covers over this, even just some large brass push plates would work. All in all, this set of doors needs some restoration and work. These are dusty and as found.


These have brass hardware including a mail slot and hand knocker, brass bar handles. The hardware does not appear to be original to this, but its not clear when it was added or where it came from. I have not seen the back of these, but the finishing and patina on the mail slot makes me think these were probably vintage reproductions added to this antique door set. You can see it sits a bit off on these, and has been bolted on with bolts exposed on the other side of the doors. It seems appropriate but would need to be finessed a bit to work. If you covered over the nuts and bolts on the other side with an appropriate brass piece they would probably look right. There are hardware guides left from a vertical bar bolt (the type that slots into the floor) but the bar itself is missing. Other bits of hardware were added to these.


This was found in a horde of architectural antiques, please check out my shop for more great pieces from this collection!

If you think this set may be right for you but would like to see more detail shots, please let me know and I will arrange to send them to you through Chairish. less