100 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1S93. 



eign make, but the probability is that it was made in Catalonia, and perhaps near 

 Vich itself, where the influence of French designs would be more feltthan in the more 

 southern parts of Spain. It is attributed, and, I think, rightly, to the fifteenth cen- 

 tury. 



The S))anish crosses of the sixteenth and late fifteenth centuries have a character 

 fully as peculiar and national as those of earlier date. Those of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury are characterized»by a richness of detail that makes them look at a little distance 

 like filigree work, but a closer examination shows that this rich ett'ect is produced 

 by a multiplicity of canopies, edgings, and pendants, symmetrically designed in a 

 semi-Gothic s+yle. The richest, and at the same time the best, in general design, of 

 this kind is that from the Cathedral of Osuna (Seville), though many others, from 

 Salamanca, Astorga, and-other cathedrals are very good. Nearly all, however, have 

 surtered, and their enameled details are destroyed by having been passed through 

 the fire to render them bright." 



Another class of objects are the caskets used as reliquaries. Some of them are of 

 pure Moorish work, with Saracenic designs and inscriptions. Mr. Read describes 

 the earliest and most important of these, a large casket of carved ivory with mounts 

 of champleve enamel, from the Provincial council ol Valencia. 



•'The whole surface is carved in relief with scrolls of conventional leaves of the 

 style common in the ornamentation of the Alhambra, the stems being interlaced. 

 On the sides are hunting scenes; on the body of the casket are broad borders formed 

 of pairs of birds and deer, alternating, each pair facing, and above them a series of 

 triple arches. The cover is in the same style, but that the borders are much simpler, 

 and in one panel a piece from another casket has been inserted. The enameled 

 mounts are an interesting feature and form an important landmark in the history 

 of enameling in Spain. The patterns of these are the simplest geometrical designs, 

 and the colors blue and white; but there is every appearance of these being the 

 original mounts, and if this be the case they must be of the middle of the eleventh 

 century; for the great historical value of this object consists in its bearing the 

 da*^e of its manufacture, A. H. 441 (A. D. 1049-50), the name of its maker, Abd-er 

 Rahman ibu Zeyyan, who made it at Cuenca for Hosam-ud-Daulat Abu Mohammad. 



"Another casket, of nearly equal importance, comes from the Cathedral of Gerona, 

 where it is usually placed upon the High Altar. This, though equally of Arab work, 

 is very diflerent in style as well as material. It is entirely covered with plates of 

 silver gilt, embossed with open scrolls inclosing symmetrical flowers, the details of 

 which are inlaid with niello. Around the edge of the lid, as in the previous exam- 

 ple, is a Cufic inscription stating that it was made in Cordova by the order of 

 Al-Hakam II, the Caliph of Spain, more celebrated for his studious habits than for 

 warlike achievements, who died in A. D. 976. The inscription states that Al-Hakam 

 ordered it for his son, and gives the name of the maker (Riano, p. 12). But for this 

 inscription the style of the ornament would probably have led to the casket being 

 assigned to a later date. 



"These two caskets are without any mixture of Western motives in their decora- 

 tion, and are of special interest in the history of art industries from the precision of 

 their date and country of manufacture. 



"Am(mg the altar caskets one of the most beautiful is a cylindrical ivory box 

 from the Cathedral of Saragossa. It is of Oriental work, the sides pierced with 

 delicate tracery, and with bands of Arabic inscrii)tion in relief round the edge. 

 These boxes, though by no means common, arc well known, and two in the British 

 Museum have always been thought to be of Persian origin, and it is possible that 

 the example now in (luestion may be also of Persian work. It has, however, an 

 enrichment of b.iuds of delicate filigree work, pa.ssing over and around it, which 

 are certainly Moorish and of the late fifteenth century. This is decided by their 

 similarity in style and work to the mounts of the sword of Boabdil belonging to 

 the Manpies de Viane. In ))oth specimens there are Arabic inscriptions, outlined 



