COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 87 



artist, who seems to have been popular in Spain, to judge by the comparative fre 

 quency of his works. Three other enamels in the collection shown by the Coucle de 

 Valencia de Don Juan are, however, of far greater interest and beauty. The first 

 of these is of North Italian work of the fifteenth century, a circular pectorial medal 

 lion, with a hinged front displaying both sides and out scenes from the Passion 

 painted in the exquisite style characteristic of this period and country, and of which 

 we have a few good examples in the British Museum. The back of this charming 

 pendant is formed of a plate of pearl shell engraved with the Crucifixion, and every 

 part seems in perfect preservation. 



The two other enamels are of Limoges, the more important being a brilliant trip 

 tych, unsigned, but, doubtless, by Leonard Limousin, the second an equally brilliant, 

 but small plaque, painted by Pierre Reymoud in 1537, with the Good Shepherd giv 

 ing crooks to the shepherds, and the exhortation to the shepherds is inscribed in 

 two panels at the top. The triptych represents the Last Supper, and has the arms 

 of Lorraine beneath, quarterly and an inescutcheon of pretence of Lorraine, while 

 on the wings are the arms of Lorraine (on a bend three alerions) and those of France, 

 as well as a motto, which would point to the piece having been made for a person 

 age of distinction. The Coude de Valencia also exhibits a large and interesting series 

 of the small champleve&quot; enamel plaques from horse trappings, most of which have 

 devices of an armorial character, both Moorish and Christain. These little ornaments 

 were used in all European couutres in mediaeval times, and a large number, such as 

 are to be found here, could scarcely fail to produce some interesting results if time 

 were given to their study. 



The absence of any large number of Limoges or Italian enamels is not so surpris 

 ing as the entire want of Flemish plate of the period of Charles V or earlier. There 

 are, no doubt, some pieces which, on examination, would prove to be of Flemish man 

 ufacture, but there is certainly nothing like a display of such objects, and it seems 

 scarcely credible that great quantities of church plate and objects of domestic use 

 were not brought from Flanders, a country where art of this kind had attained to 

 such perfection. 



There now remains to notice the collections of pottery which are confined almost 

 entirely to the lustred wares so well known and so highly appreciated, all over the 

 world for their decorative qualities. Before describing these, however, it is desir 

 able to allude to an altogether unexpected, though by no means unimportant, exhibit 

 of mosque lamps of pottery and glass sent by the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Con 

 stantinople. Of the pottery lamps the most curious, though the least ornamental, 

 is one with two rows of handles, covered with oil gilding, and decorated only with 

 two narrow bands of inscription in blue, the rest of the surface being plain white; 

 probably a product of the potteries either at Cairo or Damascus. Far more beautiful, 

 and of unusually large size, are two richly-colored lamps of Rhodian ware, with 

 bosses round the lower part filled with elegant arabesque designs, the rest of the 

 surface covered with inscriptions and ornament. The red and turquoise colors are 

 of unusual brilliancy, and the execution of the ornament, as well as the outlines of 

 the lamps themselves, leave nothing to be desired. 



Four small lamps, painted entirely in pale blue, though neither so unusual nor so 

 immediately attractive, are fine specimens of their kind. Their principal decora 

 tion consists of bands of ornamental Cufic, the spaces between being filled with 

 delicately-penciled devices that recall the illuminated Persian manuscripts of the fif 

 teenth century. The glass lamps seem to be of Venetian manufacture, and probably 

 of the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. They are all of lace glass of various 

 patterns, somewhat coarse in make, and they preserve the usual form of the mosque 

 lamp. In addition to these, there are two trumpet-shaped lamps of the same kind of 

 glass, which have been used either as the oil receptacle of a pottery lamp or perhaps 

 independently, as they would be too large for any but the largest size of lamp. 

 Some of these Venetian lamps have been thought by their Mussulman owners to be 



