96 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



at Zamura were asked to contribute to the exhibitiou >soiiie of their works of art, 

 and sent among other things several beautiful tapestries of the fifteenth century, 

 of great size, of tine design, and in a good state of preservation. With tliis cou- 

 sigumeut came a statement that if more tapestries were required for the decoration 

 of the walls, the chapter possessed tifty others. It seems impossible that so won- 

 derful a series of precious ta]>estries could have lain entirely unknown for centuries, 

 and doubtless unseen except l)y such as attended the services at the cathedral on 

 certain special festivals. .Such a case, and it seems to be by no means an isolated 

 one, illustrates in a forcible manner the unknown riches of the religiotis establish- 

 ments of Spain, unknown even to the comparatively few persons in the country 

 who are specially interested in such matters." 



The display of church vestments was very large, but the majority were overloaded 

 with embroidery in gold and silver and belong to the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. The older vestments are invariably of higher quality. One of these is 

 described ty Mr. Read: 



"First of these comes a coiteofopus anglicanumof the eiulof the thirteenth century, 

 belonging to the Cathedral of Toledo, and stated to have been the property of Cardi- 

 nal Gil de Albornoz (1367). It is of the usual semicircular shape, embroidered in 

 many colors with sacred subjects and figures of saints under canopies. Along the 

 straight side are six tigures of bishops, a king and (|ueen, and the rest of the surface is 

 entirely covered with a radiating design, the central subjects being the Coronation aud 

 Assumption of the Virgin, the Nativitj", the Annunciation, and the Virgin and Child, 

 and on either side of the outer edge tigures of the following saints : John the Evan- 

 gelist, Edward the Confessor, Laurence, Mary Magdalen, Ethelbert, Dunstan, Mar- 

 garet, Catherine, Thomas of Canterbury, Olave, Stephen, Helen, Dionysius, Edmund 

 the King, John the Baptist, and a bishop without name. The inner circle is com- 

 posed of eight figures of apostles: Saints Paul, Simon, Philip, James, Andrew. 

 Thomas, Bartholomew, and Peter. The names are inscribed upon scrolls in Lom- 

 bardic capitals. In the spandrels are placed birds, executed in brilliant colors. It 

 will be seen that cci'taiu of the saints are especially English, and thus help to con- 

 firm the cardinal's description of his own cope, as well as the internal evidence of the 

 design and method of work, both of which point to the conclusion that the cope is 

 of Engli.sh work. In addition to this, however, I am able to add by the kind offices 

 of Senor Canovas del Castillo, through Pou G. J. de Osma, the following extract 

 from the will of the original owuvjr: 'Item lego eidem ecclesia^ Conchensi caput 

 argenteum cum reliquiis beati Blasii ponderis quadraginti octo marchorum. Item 

 pluviale meum pretiosum de opere anglicano. A'olo tamen quod dicti decanus et 

 capitulum nuuquam pos.sint ilia alienare, vendere, seuimpignorare, etc.'"* 



The Cathedral of Moudouedo sent the sandals of Don Pelayo II, of Cedeira (1199- 

 1218). The shoes or sandals reach to the ankles, made of stuft' originally purple, 

 .with bands of gold thread across the instep and down the middle of the foot to the 

 toe. The soles are nearly 2 inches thick, somewhat like a Chinese shoe, aud the 

 edges are ornamented with stiff interlacing floral scrolls of the style usually found 

 in works of art at this period. 



In refcreu(-e to the large display of church plate, Mr. Kead says: 



'•'There can be no doubt that so rich a collection of material for the study of 

 Si>auish gold anil silversmiths' work has never beeu before l)rought together. A great 

 ))roiK)rtion of the objects exhibited is naturally of the hue sixteenth and early sev- 

 enteenth centuries, but many tine pieces of earlier and more interesting periods are 

 to 1)6 found. The silver chalice and paten of late thirteenth or early fouitccnth 

 century from Toledo Cathedral are remarkable anu)ng these, both for the beauty of 

 the work and for the unusually large size of both objects. The chalice is more than 

 a foot in diameter at the base and 17 inches in height, while the paten is 16 inches 



' Genesins de Sepulveda. Opera, Madrid. 1780. 



