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This door, decorated with panels carved in a linen-fold pattern, was probably a back or interior door of a middle-class home. It is remarkable for its cat hole. Cats were primarily kept as working mousers at a time when there was no refrigeration and spoiling grain could tempt mice. Few doors with cat holes have survived from this early period, but the 14th-century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer described one in the "Miller's Tale" from his "Canterbury Tales." In the narrative, a servant, whose knocks go unanswered, uses the hole to peek in: "An hole he foond, ful lowe upon a bord/ Ther as the cat was wont in for to crepe,/ And at the hole he looked in ful depe,/ And at the last he hadde of hym a sighte."
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- 0929a2f4252a7b19
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 18381
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "18381",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/64.164",
"contentType": "object",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Door with Cat Hole",
"description": "This door, decorated with panels carved in a linen-fold pattern, was probably a back or interior door of a middle-class home. It is remarkable for its cat hole. Cats were primarily kept as working mousers at a time when there was no refrigeration and spoiling grain could tempt mice. Few doors with cat holes have survived from this early period, but the 14th-century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer described one in the \"Miller's Tale\" from his \"Canterbury Tales.\" In the narrative, a servant, whose knocks go unanswered, uses the hole to peek in: \"An hole he foond, ful lowe upon a bord/ Ther as the cat was wont in for to crepe,/ And at the hole he looked in ful depe,/ And at the last he hadde of hym a sighte.\"",
"provenance": "Baron Cassel van Doorn; Blumka Gallery, New York, November, 1969; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1969, by purchase.",
"date": "1450-1500 (Late Medieval)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/64.164",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Wood",
"doors"
],
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"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_64.164_Fnt_BW_C80.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 174,
"height": 91.9,
"depth": 4.4
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "without hinges: 68 1/2 x 36 3/16 x 1 3/4 in. (174 x 91.9 x 4.39 cm)"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "18381",
"label": "Door with Cat Hole",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/64.164"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "18381",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/64.164",
"contentType": "object",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Door with Cat Hole",
"description": "This door, decorated with panels carved in a linen-fold pattern, was probably a back or interior door of a middle-class home. It is remarkable for its cat hole. Cats were primarily kept as working mousers at a time when there was no refrigeration and spoiling grain could tempt mice. Few doors with cat holes have survived from this early period, but the 14th-century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer described one in the \"Miller's Tale\" from his \"Canterbury Tales.\" In the narrative, a servant, whose knocks go unanswered, uses the hole to peek in: \"An hole he foond, ful lowe upon a bord/ Ther as the cat was wont in for to crepe,/ And at the hole he looked in ful depe,/ And at the last he hadde of hym a sighte.\"",
"provenance": "Baron Cassel van Doorn; Blumka Gallery, New York, November, 1969; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1969, by purchase.",
"date": "1450-1500 (Late Medieval)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/64.164",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Wood",
"doors"
],
"iiifBase": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_64.164_Fnt_BW_C80.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_64.164_Fnt_BW_C80.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_64.164_Fnt_BW_C80.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 174,
"height": 91.9,
"depth": 4.4
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "without hinges: 68 1/2 x 36 3/16 x 1 3/4 in. (174 x 91.9 x 4.39 cm)"
}
Document source extras
{
"cul": "Medieval European",
"med": "wood (oak)",
"creator_ids": [
"6229"
],
"collection_ids": [
"REN",
"TAF"
],
"exhibition_ids": []
}
Page context
{
"seq": 1,
"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/raw/PL9_64.164_Fnt_BW_C80.jpg",
"mediaId": "0929a2f4252a7b19"
}