to convey love-messages, as invitations to a banquet, or to notify the
celebration of feasts and games. We find the diptych also used in
Christian temples from the time of Constantine, serving to record church
festivals or names of saints and martyrs, as covers for a copy of the
gospel (_diptycha evangeliorum_), or as reliquaries (_thecae
reliquiarum_). Sometimes these diptyches were wrought expressly for the
church, or sometimes they were consular diptyches that had been
preserved from former ages. This latter class, when cleansed from pagan
usage and devoted to the ceremonies of the Christian faith, was known as
_diptycha mixta_.
Such early objects as were wrought in ivory by Spanish hands, consisting
as a rule of circular or oblong, square or oval caskets, were
principally carved by Moors or Mudejares. Among the Spanish-Moorish
boxes which are still preserved are several of the greatest interest and
beauty (Plates xxxviii., xxxix., xl.). One of them, made from pieces of
an older casket believed to date from earlier than the Moorish conquest,
is in the National Museum. The decoration in its present form consists
of Arabic inscriptions in relief, together with figures of the apostles.
This casket, which proceeds from the Colegiata of Saint Isidore at León,
measures seven inches in length by five in depth and six in height, and
has been used as a reliquary.
Another, dating from the middle of the eleventh century and proceeding
from the same temple as the one just noticed, is also in the National
Museum. It was a present from the Emir Mohammed Almotamid-Aben-Abed to
his second wife, Al-Badir ("the Moon"), and includes among the
decoration dogs and doves, symbolic of affection and fidelity. The style
of carving is what is known as Persian-Arabic. We do not know, however,
whether the box was imported from the East, or whether it was made in
Spain by somebody of Persian parentage or skilled in Persian art. The
material is a delicate _taracea_ of sandal, aloe, and cypress woods
inlaid on larch. The box, which was used at León as a reliquary, has
bronze clasps, and is inscribed along the top with sentences from which
we learn that it was made by Aben-As-Serag.
[Illustration: XXXVIII
IVORY CASKET
(_Moorish; 11th Century. Pamplona Cathedral_)]
In the cathedral of Pamplona is a magnificent ivory box (Plate
xxxviii.) which was originally at Sangüesa in Navarre. It measures, says
Riaño, fifteen inches long by nine and a quarter inches wide. "It is
completely covered with carvings in relief, within circular cusped
medallions, with figures in the centres representing different subjects;
men seated, hawking, or struggling with wild beasts, and numerous single
figures of lions, stags, and other animals. The intermediate spaces
contain an ornamentation of leaves and flowers which is accommodated to
the geometrical style of Saracenic art. Round the upper part of this box
appears an Arabic inscription in fine Cufic characters:--'In the name of
God. The blessing of God, the complete felicity, the happiness, the
fulfilment of the hope of good works, and the adjourning the fatal
period (of death), be with the Hagib Seifo daula (sword of the State),
Abdelmalek ben Almansur. This (box) was made by the orders (of the said
Hagib), under the inspection or direction of his chief eunuch, Nomayr
ben Mohammad Alaumeri, his slave, in the year of 395 (A.D. 1005).'
"In the centre medallion, on the opposite side to the lock, is
represented the standing figure of a man who is attacked by two lions.
He holds on his arm a shield, upon which is engraved an inscription,
with the following religious formula: 'There is no god but God,' or a
similar one, for the characters are very illegible and confused. In the
centre of this shield may be read the words, 'Made by Hair,' undoubtedly
one of the artists who made the box. Another artist's name may be read
with difficulty in a similar inscription which appears on one of the
medallions on the left side; it is written on the thigh of a stag, which
is attacked by a lion: 'It was made by Obeidat.' Three other
inscriptions of a similar character appear in other parts of this box,
which probably give the names of other artists, but I have been unable
to decipher them."
Other interesting boxes dating from the same period are that of Santo
Domingo de Silos at Burgos, and several which are in the National Museum
at Madrid. The box which is preserved at Burgos is made of ivory, and
measures thirteen inches and a quarter in length by seven inches and a
half in width and height. The decorative work consists of hunting
scenes, and also of an inscription in Cufic characters which says:
"Permanent felicity for the owner (of this box). May God lengthen
his days. It was made at Medina ...[57] in the year four hundred
and seventeen (A.D. 1025). It is the work of his servant
Mohammed-ibn-Zeiyan. May God glorify him."
[57] At this break in the inscription Riaño professed to discover the
beginning of the word _Cuenca_.
There is also in the provincial museum of Burgos a handsome ivory
diptych which was formerly at the convent of Santo Domingo de Silos. It
bears at each extremity--that is, four times repeated--the following
inscription:--"This was ordered to be made by the Iman, servant of God,
Abd-er-Rhaman, prince of believers."
[Illustration: XXXIX
IVORY BOX
(_11th Century. Palencia Cathedral_)]
Among the rectangular boxes in the National Museum is one of carved
ivory, with an inscription recording it to have been a gift from Prince
Ali to one of the favourites of his harem, and another of the same
material which was once upon a time at Carrion de los Condes, in the
province of Palencia. This box is painted with a decorative pattern in
carmine and dark green. The lid, which is imperfect, contains the
following inscription in Cufic characters, standing boldly out against a
green ground:--"In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The protection of Allah and an impending victory for the servant of
Allah ... and his wali Maad Abu-Temim--the Iman Al-Moez ... prince of
believers (the blessing of Allah be upon him and his sons the good).
(This) was commanded to be made for (celebrating) the fortunate victory.
It was made by ... Jorasani." The length of this box is eighteen inches,
and its height nine inches.
A fine Moorish box (Plate xxxix.), now in the cathedral of Palencia, is
covered with elaborately engraved and perforated ivory plates upon a
ground of gilt leather backed by wood, and further ornamented with
enamel-work upon a copper surface. This box is fourteen inches long, and
has a gable top. The decoration on the sides and lid consists of
palm-leaves, birds, and men engaged in combating and chasing antelopes
and lions in the characteristic manner of Assyrian art. A lengthy Cufic
inscription tells us that the box was made at Cuenca (_Medina Cuenca_)
by Abd-er-Rahman ben Ziyan, to the order of the Moorish princes of
Toledo, and that it dates from the year 441 of the Hegira.[58] Vives has
pointed out that Cuenca was evidently a principal centre of this
industry, and that caskets executed here about this time exist in
Perpignan cathedral and in the provincial museum of Burgos.
[58] Detailed accounts of this casket will be found in the _Boletín de
la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_ for June 1893, and in the
_Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia_, vol. xx.
Riaño mentions seven ivory boxes of particular interest, which were
probably made in Spain by Spanish Arabs, or else by Eastern craftsmen
who had emigrated to this country. "On all their carving," he adds, "the
names of Spanish historical persons appear, and it is hardly possible
that they were ordered in remote countries, especially as some of these
objects are small and comparatively unimportant."
[Illustration: XL
HISPANO-MORESQUE IVORY CASKET
(_13th Century. Royal Academy of History, Madrid_)]
Two of these boxes are in the South Kensington Museum. The one which is
cylindrical in shape and has a domed cover is thus described by Maskell
in his _Ivories, Ancient and Mediæval, in the South Kensington
Museum_:--"This beautiful box is carved throughout, except the bottom of
it, with interlacing narrow bands forming quatrefoils, in which, on the
cover, are four eagles. These have spread wings and stand erect; well
designed and most delicately executed. A small knob serves to lift the
lid.
"Round the side, each quatrefoil is filled with a star having a leaf
ornament. The same decoration is repeated in the spaces between the
larger quatrefoils on the cover."
"The whole is carved in pierced work, except a band which forms the
upper upright portion of the box, round the side of the lid. This band
has an Arabic inscription: 'A favour of God to the servant of God, Al
Hakem al Mostanser Billah, commander of the faithful.' He was a Caliph
who reigned at Cordova, A.D. 961-976."
The other box is oblong and rectangular. "The cover and sides are carved
with scroll foliated ornament; the hinges and clasp are of chased silver
inlaid with niello. Round the sides, immediately below the lid, is the
following Arabic inscription in Cufic characters:--'In the name of God.
This (box) was ordered to be made by Seidat Allah, the wife of
Abd-er-Rahman, prince of the believers. God be merciful and satisfied
with him.'" This inscription, adds Riaño, "must allude to Abd-er-Rahman
the Third, the first Caliph of Cordova who bore the title of Emir, el
Mumenin. The formula 'God be merciful,' etc., denotes that he was dead
when it was written. He died A.D. 961."
[Illustration: XLI
IVORY CRUCIFIX
(_11th Century. Madrid Museum_)]
Another Spanish-Moorish casket, also at South Kensington, and dating
from the eleventh century, is described by Maskell as "richly
carved in deep relief with foliage and animals in scrolls interlacing
one another, and forming larger and smaller circles. The top and each
side is a single plaque of ivory; the sloping lid at the front and back
has two panels. On the two are two animals, like doves; a large bird
stands at the back of each, attacking it with his beak. The sloping
sides have, in the large circles, men on horseback, and animals
fighting. The intermediate spaces are completely filled with foliage,
and smaller beasts. Similar subjects are repeated in the circles on the
panels forming the lower sides of the casket, and among them are two
groups of men and women sitting; one blowing a horn, another playing on
a guitar, another holding a cup in one hand and a flower in the other."
Riaño adds: "There is no inscription on this casket, but in one of the
medallions on the lid there is a bust, which is carried on the back of a
horse, and which is probably a representation of the prince for whom the
casket was made."
[Illustration: XLI (_a_)
IVORY CRUCIFIX
(_11th Century. Back view. Madrid Museum_)]
The _Letter of Testament_ setting forth the various objects bequeathed
by Ferdinand the First and his consort Sancha to the church of Saint
John the Baptist (or of Saint Isidore) at León, mentions an ivory cross
(which will be noticed presently), an ivory box fitted with gold, and
two ivory boxes fitted with silver, one of them containing three other
silver boxes, similarly decorated.
One of these boxes is described by Ambrosio de Morales, and from his
words we conclude it to be the one which was adorned with gold, "of
which metal," he wrote in 1572, "it has even more than of ivory," adding
that it measured more than half a yard in length, and enshrined the body
of Saint Vincent of Avila. He also tells us that it bore the following
inscription, carved upon a golden frieze:--
ARCULA SANCTORUM MICAT HAEC SUB HONORE DUORUM
BAPTISTAE SANCTI JOHANNIS SIVE PELAGII
CEU REX FERNANDUS, REGINAQUE SANTIA, FIERI JUSSIT.
ERA MILLENA SEPTENA SEU NONAGENA.[59]
[59] A.D. 1059.
This _arca_ has been much mutilated, and stripped of all the precious
metal. Morales' description is therefore of especial value, as are the
ivory tablets (eleventh century), carved with Christian themes, which
yet remain upon the body of the box.
[Illustration: XLII
BYZANTINE CRUCIFIX]
Dating from the thirteenth century is a Moorish casket (Plate xl.),
preserved in the Academy of History at Madrid, and proceeding from the
Carthusian monastery of Val de Cristo at Segorbe. It measures a foot in
length by eight inches in height and four and a half inches in depth.
The lid is deeply bevelled, and contains on each of the bevelled sides
shields with the bars which constitute the arms of Aragon, painted upon
a gold ground, together with imperial eagles painted in black upon a
carmine ground. A decorative device of leaves and stems is also painted
on the ivory.
Rodrigo Amador de los Ríos believes that this casket was captured in war
by Jayme the First of Aragon, remaining with successive princes of his
line until the reign of Don Martin, by whom it was presented to the
monastery. The shields would thus be added to the primitive Moorish
casket by some Christian-Spanish painter.
The ivory crucifix (Plates xli. and xli. (_a_)), of Ferdinand the First
and Doña Sancha, made in the first half of the eleventh century, and
offered by these sovereigns to the church of Saint John the Baptist (or
of Saint Isidore) at León, measures twenty-one inches in length by
thirteen inches and a half in height. The figure of Christ recalls the
rigidness and rudeness of Byzantine craftsmanship, such as is found in
ancient crucifixes still preserved in Spain (Plate xlii.). The pupils of
the enormous, expressionless eyes are made of jet. We see the wound upon
each foot, with wavy marks to imitate the flowing blood, but no trace of
a nail. Nails, however, transfix the hands. The arms are separate from
the trunk, but the _suppedaneum_ on which the feet are resting is of a
single piece with the body of the figure.
The surface of the cross, especially about the borders, contains
elaborate decoration, including animals and foliage. Above the Saviour's
head is the inscription:--
IHS NAZA
RENVS REX
IVDEORVM
Above this is another figure of Christ seated, crowned with a cruciform
nimbus and holding a Greek processional cross. Beneath the feet of the
larger figure is Adam in an uncouth posture, turning his head to gaze
upward, and at the lower extremity of the cross are carved the words:--
FERDINANDVS REX
SANCIA REGINA
The lateral arms are carved with numerous devices forming an effective
whole, including animals upon a tessellated band which seems to imitate
a groundwork of mosaic. Other subjects represented are the Resurrection
of the Flesh, the ascent of the blessed to Heaven, and the fall of the
wicked to Hell.
[Illustration: XLIII
"THE VIRGIN OF BATTLES"
(_13th Century. Seville Cathedral_)]
Upon the obverse side are pairs of quadrupeds, birds, and serpents,
among a maze of foliage, together with the eagle, lion, lamb, and ox, as
symbols of the evangelists. The lion and the ox have wings, and at the
foot of the cross is an angel.
The carving of the Saviour's form is clearly inferior to that of the
decoration which surrounds it. Amador de los Ríos seeks to account for
this by declaring that "the difficulty from the point of view of art
increases in proportion as the size of the figure is required to be
larger"--a statement with which I wholly disagree. I believe, in fact,
that in this cross the figure of Christ and the surrounding
ornamentation are not by the same hand, and that the carver of the
decorative detail was simply the better craftsman of the two.
Many of the statuettes of the Virgin which are preserved in Spain were
probably made in France. One that is typically and unquestionably
Spanish is the celebrated "Virgin of Battles" (Plate xliii.), now
guarded, together with other relics of Saint Ferdinand (see Vol. I.,
Plate xi.), in the Chapel Royal of Seville cathedral. These statuettes,
the use of which originated with the Greek emperors, and which were
called by the Byzantines _socia belli_, consist of a seated figure of
the Virgin with a small door opening underneath her throne, and served
as reliquaries, and also as a kind of talisman. Boutelou says that the
Spanish warriors of the Middle Ages were accustomed to carry these
images to war with them, fitted upon a pin protruding from the left side
of the saddle-bow. The "Virgin of Battles," made in Spain in the early
part of the thirteenth century, was thus carried by King Ferdinand the
Saint, resting between his shield or _rodela_ and his left arm, and so
protected, and protecting, in the brunt of war.
[Illustration: XLIV
SPANISH MEDIÆVAL _BACULUS_]
The image is of ivory, and measures seventeen inches in height. The
style is primitive Gothic, not as yet emancipated from Romanic and
Byzantine art; and the expression of the Madonna and her Babe is marked
by an engaging sweetness. Through lapse of centuries, myriads of
diminutive cracks have opened on the surface of the ivory, and this has
turned, in colour, to a brightish yellow. The right arm of the Virgin
was broken off at some time prior to the sixteenth century, and has been
replaced by another one. Mother and Child wear crowns of silver-gilt
which probably were added later, and the hair, lips, and eyes have been
badly painted or repainted with discordant colouring. A four-sided hole
bored deep into the ivory served for holding the image to the _perno_
which projected from the monarch's saddle-bow.
A few elaborate _baculi_ or pastoral staves (Plate xliv.) exist in
Spain, including one of the fourteenth century, in ivory, which belonged
to the late Marquis of Monistrol, and is carved with the Crucifixion and
also with the Virgin contemplating the Holy Infant as He is offered cups
by angels. Another interesting Spanish baculus, though not of ivory, but
copper decorated with turquoises and bright blue enamel, belonged to
Bishop Pelayo de Cebeyra of Mondoñedo (A.D. 1199-1218), and has been
preserved, together with that prelate's gilded shoes. In the celebrated
processions of Santiago, at which Alfonso the Sixth was personally
present, magnificent ivory _baculi_ were borne, not only by the
archbishop (_eburnea virga pontificali decoratus_), but even by the
choristers.
Between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries, Spanish craftsmen
produced a fair quantity of ivory boxes, reliquaries, diptyches,
triptyches, combs, and other less important objects. A fifteenth-century
ivory spoon, ten inches long, whose handle is carved with six
crocodiles, is in the National Museum, and may be Spanish work. In the
same collection are one or two ivory diptyches and leaves of diptyches,
and a wooden box (fourteenth century), with figures of carved ivory
representing passages from the life of Saint George upon the body of the
box, and from the Old Testament upon the lid. A carved Renaissance
temple of the same material, with the Virgin and Child in its interior,
is probably Italian.
[Illustration: XLV
"A TOURNAMENT"
(_Carved lid of box in ivory; 14th Century_)]
In the fortieth volume of _España Sagrada_ it is stated that four ivory
diptyches (_quatuor dictacos eburneos_) were offered in A.D. 897 to Lugo
cathedral by Alfonso the Third and his queen Jimena. Other ivory
diptyches were presented in A.D. 1063 by Ferdinand the Second to the
church of Saint Isidore at León. José Villa-amil, in his study of an
ivory statuette of the Virgin, belonging to the nuns of Allariz
(_Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_; nos. 76 and 77),
mentions a carved ivory box (_capsa eburnea_) made in the year 1122 for
Santiago cathedral by order of Archbishop Gelmirez; another which
existed in the sixteenth century in the church of Santa María at
Finisterre; and a third, used as a reliquary, which in 1572 was opened
by the monks of Samos in presence of Ambrosio de Morales.
During the Middle Ages portable altars (_altares portátiles_) were
widely used in Spain, and some were made of ivory. It was the custom to
open them at the time of prayer, and as a rule they rested upon
_reclinatorios_ or hung upon the wall. The _imagen abriente_ or "opening
image" was also popular in Spain throughout the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. As the name implies, these images opened in the manner of a
triptych, and were very often used as reliquaries. Specimens are
preserved in many parts of Europe, but only one or two exist in Spain
and Portugal. That which belongs to the nuns of Allariz dates from the
end of the thirteenth century, and was a present from Queen Violante. It
is described fantastically by Morales, and accurately by Villa-amil, but
the quaintest account is by the chronicler Jacobo de Castro. It
measures, Castro tells us, "about half-a-yard in length and is one of
the fairest ever seen, since it opens downward from the neck,
discovering, on plates of half-relief, the principal mysteries of Christ
and of Our Lady. The devotion towards it of the people in this
neighbourhood exceeds description, and God has wrought a quantity of
miracles through the intercession thereof."
A fourteenth-century triptych carved in bone with scenes from Scripture
is in the National Museum. It proceeds from Aragon, and is said to have
belonged to Jayme the Conqueror. The Escorial possesses a handsome ivory
diptych (Plate xlvi.) which is either Spanish or Italian--probably the
former. It measures exactly a foot in height by nine inches across both
leaves, and is deeply carved with passages from the life of Christ. The
style is late Romanic merging into Gothic, and points to the second half
of the thirteenth century.
[Illustration: XLVI
IVORY DIPTYCH
(_13th Century. El Escorial_)]
POTTERY
ANCIENT
Quantities of ancient common pottery have been, and are continually
being found in many parts of Spain. Prehistoric cups, shaped with the
fingers and dried and hardened by the sun, are preserved in the Museum
of History at Barcelona. They were discovered at Argar. Similar objects
have been extracted from the caves of Segóbriga, Lóbrega in Old Castile,
and El Tesoro in the province of Málaga. Those which were found at
Segóbriga are divided by Capelle into six groups, one of which includes
a vessel resembling the ordinary Spanish pitcher of to-day.
Villa-amil y Castro has described in the _Museo Español de Antigüedades_
pieces of prehistoric sun-dried ware discovered in Galicia, roughly
decorated with patterns imprinted by the finger. In other instances a
double spiral has been described with a pointed instrument about the
vessel's neck. Similar fragments have been found by Góngora in
Andalusia. Celtic pottery was found in 1862 by Captain Brome on Windmill
Hill at Gibraltar, in 1866 by M. Lartet in the caves of Torrecilla de
Cameros, and by Casiano de Prado in a cave near Pedraza, as well as at
Navares de Ayuso and elsewhere. In central Spain, vessels of the
Celtiberian era have been found in tombs at Prádena, and pieces of red
Saguntine ware, with dark red decoration, at Otero de Herreros, close to
vestiges of a Roman mine. Lecea y García describes in his work on _Old
Segovian Industries_ a Celtiberian plate of reddish clay covered with
black varnish, which was dug up some years ago in a garden at that town.
This plate, measuring no less than four feet in diameter, and containing
two inscriptions in characters believed to be Celtiberian, as well as
the figure of a warrior armed with a lance and three javelins, was
submitted to Heiss, who wrote of it in the _Gazette Archéologique_ and
pronounced it to be genuine. I have not seen the plate in question. I
have, however, met with cleverly executed forgeries, also varnished
black, of primitive Spanish pottery.
In 1899 quantities of Celtic ware, believed to date from the time of the
Ph[oe]nicians, or even earlier, were unearthed by M. Bonsor from tumuli
in the Guadalquivir valley. These objects are ornamented in relief with
complicated patterns paler than the ground, obtained by using
lighter-coloured clay. "As similar Celtic pottery has been found in
Portugal, it will be understood that the Celtic influence, having
crossed the Pyrenees, reached the south by the western seaboard. It will
thus be seen that long before the arrival of the Romans a relatively
high degree of civilisation had been reached at least in the south of
Spain."[60]
[60] Martin Hume, _The Spanish People_, p. 15 (note).