Ya know, it really bugs me when I see an incorrect statement about an traditional antique get picked up and spread all over the Internet. It makes it very difficult to research an item!
I recently puchased an antique cast iron door knocker for my front door. It is a French lady's hand, holding a fruit. From what I understand, these are very common common all over Europe. France in particular seems to have the ones holding the fruit. They date from about the late 1800's on through the present day. There are a lot of reproductions made.
What I'm seeing is these clearly Victorian style repros being misrepresented as the Islamic "Hand of Fatima" door knockers. Islamic tradition forbids imitation of the creative properties of Allah, which is why Islamic art uses Arabic script and geometric design, and not representations of people, as is done in Christian art.
The Hand of Fatima looks like this:
And European door knockers look like this:
There's just no way that Victorian European Christians would have gone for Islamic door knockers in such a big way.
What I am trying to find out, is if there is any kind of story behind the traditional Europen ladie's hand knocker, or if they are simply decorative and cool-looking? It just looks like one of those kind of things that ought to have some sort of legend to it, but I sure have not been able to find one. Does anyone know? Please correct me if I am off-base with anything above too!
