REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 99 



ject, ' Bort/ia Car. Mon. liff/al,' would seem to indicate tbat it was tlu' jtroperty of 

 Cardinal Borgia, archbishop of Monreale, iu Sicily, who diedm 1503. The frame is 

 of uucommou design, and may be of the same work as the center, but it is possible 

 that it was added in Spain. Two pilasters which form the sides are somewhat poor 

 ill execution, and the cresting round the curved top of the pax is curiously classical 

 in fei'liug, and consists of groups of two winged lion monsters, loo])ed together at 

 the neck and tails, the junctions of the latter being surujounted by palmettes. There 

 is a certain clumsiness about the design which is scarcely Italian. 



"The only other pax worthy of special note is that from the Cathedral of Madrid- 

 Alcala, an excellent example of Spanish Gothic metal work of the late lifteentb or 

 early sixteenth century, without any trace of later style. The subject is the 

 Descent from the Cross, modeled iu high relief and enameled; this is surmounted by 

 an elai)orate canopy tilled with rich tracery, and on each side are pinnacles with 

 buttressed bases, surrounded with figures of saints. The back is good in design, the 

 handle being a plain semicircle pierced to represent a dragou, while the edges are 

 bordered with bold tracery iu relief. The work of the whole is excellent, and little 

 is wanting to make it a beautiful object, but a certain squatuess and want of ele- 

 gance of form in the design suffice to make it lall short of true beauty. 



"One of the best specimens of Spanish Gothic, and a remarkable object for its great 

 size, is the monstrance from the Cathedral of Jativa, which, without the modern 

 silver base upon which it is now placed, stands 5 feet high. The occasion of its 

 construction Avas iu itself notable. Pope Alexander VI was a native of Jativa, and 

 had this gigantic monstrance made for the Cathedral from the first c(msigument of 

 silver received from America. The shai)e is very graceful and consists of a stem 

 rising from a mauy-sided base and supporting a shaped oblong ])latforiii, the edges 

 of which are bordered by a light arcade. Upon this platform rest four pillars which 

 sustain the roof, and from this rise three slender towers pierced with tracery, with 

 rich canopy work at their bases. The actual monstrance, or receptacle for the Host, 

 is a circular disk of a size proportionate to the lest, with an elaborate openwork 

 border of what in England would be called late Tudor style, and it is held up by 

 two angels kneeling ou opposite sides. The effect of this beautiful object is much 

 destroyed by the whole having been regilt, and by the enamels in the foot having 

 been renewed; but in spite of this drawback it remains one of the most beautiful, 

 and it is the most conspicuous, objects of ecclesiastical art in the exhibition. 



"The processional crosses, of which a very large number are shown, form a 

 very interesting and instructive series, possessing many features difi'eriug from 

 similar objects in other countries. The Marques de Cubas exhibits a good col- 

 lection, which is supposed to represent all the types from the eleventh century to 

 the seventeenth. Whether the series begins so early is perhaps doul)tful. but some 

 of the examples may well be of the twelfth, or more probably, thirteenth century. 

 These earlier crosses are flat plates of cojiper, gilt, and decorated with champleve 

 enamels iu the style of Limoges, but neither so well drawn nor so perfect iu execu- 

 tion as the French exampljes, tliough it is by no means improbable that the Spanish 

 enamel of this kind is an imitation of that of Limoges. The most noticeable pecul- 

 iarity in design in the Spanish crosses of this period is the presence of four oval 

 plates upon the four limbs of the cross, projecting beyond the edges of the limbs, 

 and in each plate is a subject iu enamel, but those upon the horizontal arms seem 

 always to be the Penitent aud Impenitent Thieves. Tlie form of the cross remains 

 l)ractically the same up to the sixteentli century, aud the four oval plates are fre- 

 quently found at that date, though these two are then no longer reserved for the 

 two thieves, but are sometimes devoted to figures of saints, the Evangelists, etc. 



"A very large cross from the Diocese of Vich merits special notice. It is of silver, 

 nearly .5 feet in total height, the surface <iuite plain, except for a circular disk upon 

 each arm, ill the center ofwiiich is a sixfoil with a subject in translucent enamel. 

 This cross differs so much from all the otliers that it might be thought to be of for- 



