A set of delicately punched tabernacle doors, which would have been attached to a large sacrament house that protected the host, yet revealed its presence. The doors are joined by a large clasp, which would have been kept closed using the lock indicated by the keyhole. The thin sheets of iron are held by a thick frame with two hinges on either side. Each door is decorated with tracery forms that are cut directly into the thin sheets of iron. The tracery includes a large rose window at the top of each door and a variety of other forms, such as lancets and rosettes. The most prevalent forms include ogee arched lancets with cusps, echoing oriental influences.
Although wrought iron is often considered a material used mainly for utilitarian purposes, in the Middle Ages it was worked with the same sort of precision as precious metals. And although the material was not as pricey as gold or silver, wrought iron was expensive because of the kind of skill required to work it. The ironwork on this object can be compared to sacrament house doors and various smaller objects that survive in public and private collections, such as the Spanish Tabernacle doors housed in the Met, or the French Tabernacle Doors housed in the Walters Art Museum. The tracery forms of this object, namely the orientalising lancets and large rosettes, however, are most similar to the Tabernacle Doors now in the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, which come from Southern France — an origin that resonates with the shapes decorating both objects. See Le musée de la Céramique
