All these objects are decorated with a serrated ornamentation of buttons, trellis-work, and the lines to which I have already alluded which were placed there after the object was made, in the Roman style. The paste is generally of a dark green colour, and when we find these same features in vessels of white clear glass, we may affirm that they are contemporary imitations made at Cadalso or elsewhere, for they are very seldom to be met with in the provinces of Almeria and Granada, and are generally found at Toledo and other localities; it is, moreover, a common condition of Oriental art that its general form complies with a geometrical tracery, and we never find as in Italian works of art, forms and capricious ornamentations which interfere with the symmetry of the general lines, and sacrifice them to the beauty of the whole.
I have been unable to find the glass industries of this period mentioned by any contemporary author, but I owe to the courtesy of Sr. Romero Ortiz some interesting details which have been taken from the archives of certain villages, which although of a more modern date prove that this industry existed in these localities. At about 14 miles from the Puebla de Dn. Fadrique, there is a locality called Pinar de la Vidriera, where traces of ovens and scoriæ exist belonging to an ancient glass manufactory, which is likewise mentioned in documents of the municipality as continuing to work in 1620. At Castril de la Peña, a manufactory yet exists where glass is still made, and which has existed from time immemorial in the village. The building itself is decorated with the escutcheon of the family of Hernando de Zafra, one of the secretaries of Queen Isabel, late in the 15th century, who must have purchased it with other lands which he possessed there, towards the year 1492. A gallery, one mile long, which exists at the entrance of the town from whence the sand has been extracted for this manufacture, gives an idea of the antiquity of this industry in this particular locality. It has been calculated that about two tons of sand were used at these glass works every month. At Royo Molino, in the province of Jaen, a very ancient building still exists, now half in ruins, which has been used until very lately as a glass factory. At Maria, in the province of Almeria, several glass manufactories have existed. The oldest, it is believed, was about two miles from the town, and is called traditionally "del Campo," but I have not found mention of it in any document. Three glass ovens existed inside the town: one was established by Vicente Botia, towards the year 1750, which lasted until 1790. Juan Martinez established at about this period an industry of a similar kind near the former one, which continued to work until 1854. The same green glass has been constantly made in these localities, the same forms have been copied, the only difference between the older and more modern specimens consisting in the coarser and heavier quality of the glass.
In treating of the glass manufactures in Spain, where Italian models were imitated to a very great extent, we find very few allusions in contemporary authors of the Middle Ages; it may be because glass vessels were chiefly used with wooden and pottery utensils by the poorer classes, and metal utensils of all kinds by those who were able to afford them. At any rate, it is only towards the end of the Middle Ages that we meet with information concerning this industry, which continues uninterrupted until the present day.
Barcelona is one of the towns distinguished for the antiquity and excellence of its glass. In a municipal edict of 1324, we find a special prohibition that the glass ovens should not be inside the city, owing to the danger they might cause to the rest of the population. In 1455, permission was granted to the vidrieros, glassmakers, to form a guild under the patronage of St. Bernardino, and from this period some of its members figure as holding municipal charges. Capmany, "Memorias," Vol. I. p. 134. According to this author, the special Ordinances of this corporation are not known, but only those which were given by the municipality in 1659. He adds that the master vidrieros required six years of apprenticeship and practice to be admitted to work.
From the 15th century several authors praise the glass made at Barcelona. In a MS. by Jeronimo Paulo, who writes in 1491, a description in Latin of the most remarkable things at Barcelona, he says, "they also send to Rome and other places many glass vessels of different sorts and kinds which may well compete with those of Venice." In the account of Philip le Bel's journey to Spain on his marriage with Queen Joanna we find the following mention of the town of Barcelona: "Et sont là faicts les plus beauls ouvrages de voires (verres) et de cire qui soient faicts au monde. Le Jordi (19 Janvier, 1503) Monsigneur alla au dehors de la ville vioir ung jour où on faict voires (verres) de cristallin très beaus." ["Collection des Voyages," Bruxelles, 1876, Vol. I., p. 257.] Marineus Siculus, who writes early in the 16th century says, "the best glass made in Spain is that of Barcelona," and Gaspar Barreiros in his "Chorographia," [Coimbra, 1569,] tells us, "they made excellent glass at Barcelona, almost equal to the Venetian." At the beginning of the 17th century the authors, Jaime Rebullosa, in his "Descripcion del mundo," [Barcelona, 1603, 8vo,] and Luis Nuñez in "Hispania," [Antverpiæ, 1607, 8vo, p. 279,] continue to praise the glass made at Barcelona, and from that period we find its merit and the vast quantity which was exported constantly alluded to. The fame of Spanish glass must have been justified, for in the "Viage del Cardinal Infante," by Aedo, printed in 1639, we find it stated that when the Infant Cardinal was at Barcelona, in 1632, he went with his galleys to Mataró, four leagues from Barcelona, to see the "glass made there which was so abundantly sold all over the country." The Spanish translator of "La Piazza universale di tutte le professioni," [Madrid, 1615,] adds the name of Barcelona to the Italian author's mention of glass objects made in Venice, saying, "This industry has reached such a degree of excellence at Murano and Barcelona that nothing can be compared to it; there is nothing now which cannot be made of glass and crystal, even cabinets have been made, and castles with their towers, battlements, artillery, and fortifications." Mendez Silva in his "Poblacion de España, [Madrid, 1654, p. 243,] repeats the same idea when he says they made at Barcelona, "fine glass which might compete with the Venetian." This industry continued in Cataluña to a great extent in the last century, and was praised by the following writers. The author of the "Atlante Español," [Vol. IV., Madrid, 1778-1795,] tells us that "they continued to make excellent glass at Barcelona, in imitation of the Venetian, with which it might compete," and that this industry was carried out to a great extent at Mataró, Cervelló, and Almatret, all three towns of Cataluña; he says that in this last mentioned town the glass made was "so excellent, and the number of workmen employed was so large, that an oratory had been built in order that the workmen should hear mass there."
The constant comparisons which we find between the glass made at Barcelona with that of Murano suggests two things—that Spanish glass must have been of a first-rate order, and that the form of the glass vessels was similar to those made at Venice. It is highly probable that a great part of the specimens of glass of different kinds which are classified as Italian in several collections, are really Spanish, although it is extremely difficult to point out the difference. In this, as in other branches of industry, the mania for classifying has gone too far, and comparative studies of a more concrete order are necessary; until these are made, the principal fact to be borne in mind in classifying glass vessels is to compare them with objects of a similar manufacture which have been made until very lately in Cataluña, and of which an extremely interesting collection exists at the South Kensington Museum, proceeding from Barcelona, Mataró and Cervelló, (Nos. 149 to 193) which will enable the amateur to see how the industry of glass-making has continued traditionally to be preserved in that province. See woodcut opposite representing a glass bottle, also the central vessel in woodcut on p. 238.