336 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



been an unforeseen and necessary addition made at a later period with 

 means at hand. 



Toward the period to which the miter evidently belongs, two distin 

 guished members of the D Avila family held high ecclesiastical positions 

 in Spain, but thus far I have not succeeded in ascertaining whether 

 either of them attained cardinalship. 



Sancho d Avila, born at Avila in Old Castile in 1546, was consecu 

 tively bishop of Murcia, Jaen, Sagonte, and Placeutia, and died in 1625. 



Gil Gonzalez d Avila was born at Avila in 1550 (according to Cham 

 bers Encyclopedia), or in 1578 (according to Oettinger, Moniteur des 

 dates), and died in 165^. He was a Jesuit, a canon of Salamanca and, 

 moreover, royal historiographer for Castile and the Indies. He wrote 

 many voluminous works, the best known of which is perhaps the Teatro 

 Ecclesiastics de la primitiva Iglesia de las Indias Occidental s (Madrid, 

 1649-1656). Although these facts do not suffice to establish the indi 

 vidual ownership of the m trr, they certainly reveal an interesting con 

 nection between the D Avila family, the Church, and Mexico. It will 

 be interesting to ascertain how and when the miter came into the pos 

 session of Archduke Ferdinand, who was one of the most indefatigable 

 collectors and curiosity hunters of his time. 



The three historical relics that have been described are probably speci 

 mens of the finest feather mosaic produced in Mexico at the culmi 

 nating period, when the best native workers were employed in copying 

 beautiful designs made by Spanish artists. A high form of decorative 

 art was thus developed, the productions of which rival a miniature on 

 vellum for delicacy of execution and combining the beauties of a silky, 

 smooth surface like that of velvet, with a metallic brilliancy of color 

 and iridescence resembling that of the Limoges enamels. When strictly 

 confined and applied to decorative purposes, as in these specimens, the 

 native art of painting with feathers affords even now artistic gratifica 

 tion and evokes admiration and approval. The same can not be said 

 of the curious reproductions of Spanish paintings, usually pictures of 

 saints, which became a favorite and staple production of the native 

 artists. A few samples of this kind were exhibited in the Mexican sec 

 tion of the exhibition, and consisted of a series of finely-executed copies 

 of Spanish pictures of saints, and a large archaic head of Christ of 

 native design and coarse execution. 



I was informed that these were probably the oldest existing speci 

 mens preserved in Mexico, and that they had recently been discovered 

 in an old provincial church. 



The only specimen of the kind in Europe to which a date can safely 

 be assigned, are those which originally belonged to the Ambras collec 

 tion, and consequently antedate 1596. One of these, representing St. 

 Jerome and the lion in the desert, is still preserved at the Castle of 

 Ambras, and attention was drawn to it in my publication on &quot;Ancient 

 Mexican shields.&quot; 



