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Doorknob

Designer Karl L. H. Müller American
Manufacturer Union Porcelain Works American
ca. 1876
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
This porcelain doorknob pictures the popular nineteenth-century theater actor Edwin Forrest in costume as William Tell, the Swiss folk hero and master marksmen best known for shooting an apple off his son’s head with a crossbow. The iconography for the doorknob is similar to a porcelain bust made by the company and published in Popular Science Monthly in 1892. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection also includes a larger octagonal portrait plaque of Edwin Forrest in formal street attire. The repetition of this subject is a testament to Edwin Forrest’s popularity and to Ott and Brewer’s efforts to tap into the cultural zeitgeist.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title:
    Doorknob
  • Designer:
    Karl L. H. Müller (American, 1820–1887)
  • Manufacturer:
    Union Porcelain Works (American, 1863–1922)
  • Date:
    ca. 1876
  • Geography:
    Made in Brooklyn, New York, United States
  • Culture:
    American
  • Medium:
    Porcelain
  • Dimensions:
    1 1/4 × 2 7/8 in. (3.2 × 7.3 cm)
  • Credit Line:
    The Florence I. Balasny-Barnes Collection, Gift of Florence I. Balasny-Barnes, 2008
  • Object Number:
    2025.794.9
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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