The cabinets decorated with pietre duri, which are frequently met with in Spain were of foreign make. Madame d'Aunoy, in describing the house of a grandee of Spain in her "Voyage d'Espagne," p. 56, vol. ii., Lyon, 1643, says, "et de grands cabinets de pièces de rapport enrichis de pierreries, lesquels ne sont pas faits en Espagne: des tables d'argent d'entre eux, et des miroirs admirables tant pour leur grandeur que pour leurs riches bordures, dont les moins belles sont d'argent. Ce que j'ai trouvé de plus beau sont des escaparates; une espèce de petit cabinet fermé d'une seule glace et rempli de tout ce qu'on se peut figurer de plus rare." Cabinets ornamented with paintings on glass, or copper, or enamels came from Flanders, and some rare specimens of damasquine work were most probably Milanese manufacture.
In Cean Bermudez "Dicc Historico de los Profesores de Bellas Artes" appear among the sculptors' names, those of the artists who carved the most important stalls of the cathedrals, and other works of art of a similar kind, but the names of those who made cabinets have never yet been published. I have been fortunate enough to be able to collect the following from unpublished documents which exist at the Library of the Acad. de San Fernando at Madrid. They worked in the 16th and 17th century.
Large arm-chairs of a quadrangular form, with arms, back and seat of leather or embroidered stuffs, were used to furnish rooms at the same time as these cabinets; tables, and frames inlaid with ivory, tortoise-shell, ebony, bronze and silver, were hung on the walls; side-boards, beds, and braziers were made of inlaid woods or silver. Women during the 16th and 17th centuries sat on low stools on the ground. The beds were made of rich brocades embroidered with gold, (vide Madame d'Aunoy), trimmed with point d'Espagne, and on the splendid carpets were placed silver braziers which burnt crushed olive stones. The walls were covered with tapestry and rich silks, and from very early times stamped, painted or gilt leather guadameciles were used in Spain to a very great extent. These guadameciles were imitated in France and other countries in the 16th and 17th centuries; a very large quantity of this stamped leather is to be met with in England. The Baron Ch. Davillier has lately published an interesting notice on this subject, from which I take the following information. ("Notes sur les cuirs de Cordoue. Guadameciles d'Espagne," Paris, 1878.)
The word guadamecil applied to this leather comes from the village of Ghadames in Africa, celebrated from the 12th century for this industry. It was imported by the Moors into Spain, and Cordova became from the beginning of the Middle Ages the great centre of this production, although other towns, such as Seville, Granada, Toledo, and Barcelona, exported these leathers also. The chronicler Ambrosio de Morales, in his "Las Antiguedades de las ciudades de España," Alcala, 1575, says, p. 10, "A great commerce is produced by the exportation of skins, and many have been enriched by it, those prepared at Cordova are so excellent, that now in Spain any goat hide prepared in any locality is called Cordovan. Guadameciles are made of leather, and are so well fashioned in Cordova that none can compete with them; they are exported to the Indies and all Europe. They produce much for the town, and beautify the principal streets, for the hides are hung out to dry after they are painted and gilt, and it is a fine sight to see the walls covered with such variety of colour and form."
A good collection of these guadameciles is in the South Kensington Museum. See Nos. 471 to 485, '69, and 1651 to 1654, '71.
At the end of the 17th and first half of the 18th century, the Baroque or Churrigueresque architecture had such influence over furniture, that although exaggerated examples were very common, they reached in no country to such a pitch as they did in Spain. As specimens, the enormous retablos over the high altars made of gilt carved wood may be mentioned, which are so frequently to be seen in Spanish churches. The exuberance of uncouth heavy ornamentation destroys the regularity and harmony of the general effect. Chairs and tables were made then in the same style, and the cornucopias or decorated mirrors which adorn Spanish churches and sacristy, belong to this period. The name of cornucopia was given in allusion to the horn of abundance.
The French influence of the last century brought the same fashions for furniture into Spain, and we also find there the styles known as Louis XVI. and Empire. Spain follows the general rule; porcelain plaques from the manufactories of Alcora and Retiro were let into furniture, and gilt bronze mountings were very much used. The most important specimens of furniture of the early present century are the splendid rooms inlaid with metal work at the Palace, called Casa del Labrador at Aranjuez, and those known by the name of "Piezas de maderas finas," at the Palace del Escorial. The description given by J. Quevdo, in his "Historia del Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo," Madrid, 1849, gives a good idea of their importance; he says, p. 343, "This series of four small rooms were decorated at a cost of 28,000,000 of reales (£280,000). The pavement, friezes, windows, and doors, are made of the most delicate inlaid work representing landscapes, vases and festoons of flowers, which look as if they were painted with a brush. King Charles IV. helped in this work, and they were finished in 1831 under the direction of Angel Maeso. The splendid iron work was made by Ignacio Millan. It is of polished iron inlaid with gold, and most exquisite in workmanship."
IVORIES.
NO artistic industry in Spain has left behind so little historical information as ivory carving. Only a very small number of examples of this art have reached us which are of undoubted Spanish manufacture, but a group exists among them which has been but little examined or studied; it is worthy of the utmost attention, on account of its artistic character, and the inferences which may be drawn from it.