{{Short description|Device fixed to a door to make a noise}} {{about|the piece of furniture|the political campaign activity|canvassing}}
[[Image:Door Knocker MET cdi55-61-32ab.jpg|thumb|200px|Iron door knocker, from the 15th–16th centuries, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)]] {{listen|filename=Door knocker audio.ogg|title=The sound of a door knocker}}
A '''door knocker''' is an item of door furniture that allows people outside a house or other dwelling or building to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker has a part fixed to the door, and a part (usually metal) which is attached to the door by a hinge, and may be lifted and used to strike a plate fitted to the door, or the door itself, making a noise. The struck plate, if present, would be supplied and fitted with the knocker. Door knockers are often ornate, but may be no more than a simple fitting with a metal bob, or ring.
==Types== German professor Franz Sales Meyer distinguished three kinds of door knocker: the "ring", the "hammer", and an ornate category which could take the shape of an animal or another figure.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franz Sales |first1=Meyer |title=texts A Handbook Of Ornament: With Three Hundred Plates, Containing About Three Thousand Illustrations Of The Elements, And The Application Of Decoration To Objects |date=1896 |publisher=B. T. Batsford |pages=408–410 |url=https://archive.org/details/HandbookOfOrnamentWith300Plates/page/n433/mode/2up/search/%22Door+knocker%22 |accessdate=19 February 2020}}</ref> High demand for antique door knockers in the early 20th century in the United States caused forged versions to emerge.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atlee Barber |first1=Edwin |title=Old Door-Knockers |journal=Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum |date=January 1910 |volume=8 |issue=29 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.2307/3793788 |jstor=3793788}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery widths="170" heights="170"> File:Celtic Door Knocker.jpg|A British cast iron door knocker File:Germany Augsburg Dom-St-Maria Door Handle.jpg|"Ring of Mercy" on the Dom (Cathedral) St. Maria. of Augsburg. File:Bulguksa temple Dragonhead door-knocker.jpg|Dragonhead door knockers, Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju, South Korea File:Door knocker, N'Kob.jpg|Hamsa door knocker in Morocco File:Harderwijk klopper.jpg|Angel door knocker in Harderwijk, the Netherlands File:Door knocker from Venezia.JPG|Door knocker in Venice File:Heurtoir Orléans mai 2008.jpg|Door knocker in Orléans, France File:Haj Ali Bulagi House door knocker.jpg|Door knocker in Haji Bulagi House, Iran File:Behnam house's door knocker 001.jpg|Door knocker in Behnam House, Iran File:Door in Fez with two knockers.jpg|A door in Fez, Morocco with two knockers. Traditionally, one was used by women and the other by men (see top left). File:Puerta del Archivo Histórico de Querétaro (detalle de la aldaba).jpg|Door knocker depicting an Eagle warrior in Querétaro, Mexico. File:Sahún - Llamador 01.jpg|Hand-shaped door knocker in Spain File:Kołatka Biblioteka Raczyńskich.jpg|Lion head door knocker at the Raczyńskich Library File:Assezat-heurtoir.jpg|Renaissance door knocker in Toulouse, France </gallery>
==See also== * Doorbell * Door handle * Knocking on doors
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Door knockers}} *[https://www.willowandstone.co.uk/blogs/news/a-brief-history-of-the-door-knocker A Brief History of the Door Knocker]
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Category:Ironmongery Category:Door furniture
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