Skip Navigation

Door with Lock

Arts of Africa

Decorated doors are found throughout West Africa, each area having its own distinct style. Often such doors mark the homes of important people, such as rulers or religious leaders. This door, darkened from years of use, is ornamented with a carefully balanced combination of curvilinear and angular designs. The attached lock is decorated to match the door.

CULTURE Gurunsi
MEDIUM Wood, iron
  • Place Made: Burkina Faso
  • DATES late 19th or early 20th century
    DIMENSIONS Other: 58 x 28 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (147.3 x 72.4 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1994.92
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Drs. Israel and Michaela Samuelly
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Door cut from buttress root of tree with attached two piece door lock. Numerous shallow intaglio designs carved into surface of door including the following: three triangles roughly three inches to a side and pointing up, arranged in band across top register. Two sets of opposing 'v' forms arranged below triangles on right and left sides of door, each forming an 'x'. Four shallow curved grooves in roughly semicircular pattern crossing near top of door between triangles. Two similar sets of grooves forming two semicircles along left side of door. Two more meet at center of door near bottom and fan out to either side of door meeting edge about twelve inches from bottom. Door lock attached to door with two iron pins penetrating door on proper right side. Lock (probably representing a turtle) consists of a block with slightly convex front surface and slightly concave side surfaces. Small knob on upper edge of lock. Cross member has three notches where pins drop to hold it in place (pins now missing). Condition: Surface of door has overall heavy smoked patina.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Gurunsi. Door with Lock, late 19th or early 20th century. Wood, iron, Other: 58 x 28 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (147.3 x 72.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Drs. Israel and Michaela Samuelly, 1994.92. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.92_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1994.92_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Gurunsi. <em>Door with Lock</em>, late 19th or early 20th century. Wood, iron, Other: 58 x 28 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (147.3 x 72.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Drs. Israel and Michaela Samuelly, 1994.92. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.92_SL1.jpg)