"Perse" ("Persia") Door

Designer Edgar Brandt French

Not on view

Edgar Brandt, a superb craftsman who employed all the skills of the traditional French metalsmith, was one of the most accomplished exponents of the French Art Deco style. This door combines stylized flower forms and rippling scalloped bands rendered in contrasting textures, forming a free pattern of extraordinary richness and creating a sense of highly charged motion. The floral motif evokes Persian miniature painting, reflected in its name.

The door was presented to the public at the 1923 Salon d’Automne, one of the many annual exhibitions in Paris where visitors could see ensembles and room settings promoting the latest styles by the best-known French decorators. For the designers, participation was arduous and costly (considering that entirely new displays had to be created for each exhibition), but nonetheless they fully understood the commercial value in bringing their names before the public. The Metropolitan Museum bought this door directly from Brandt in 1924.

"Perse" ("Persia") Door, Edgar Brandt (French, Paris 1880–1960), Iron, French

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