(5) Two dolphins, whose tails are crossed, and in the middle a chalice and the host, with the inscription, Delitiæ generis humani. By this device is signified the love and the delight bestowed by God on men by means of this Sacrament.
(6) An altar adorned with festoons of vine-tendrils and blades of wheat, with flames upon it, and bearing the inscription, Æternum sacrificium.
FOURTH ORDER
In this order is represented the Holy Trinity upon a rainbow, surrounded by many rays of splendour, and in the fifth order is a bell, surmounted by a simple cross.
Thus are all the parts of the custodia adorned with the foregoing beautiful decoration, having regard to their proportions and their symmetry, according to the rules of good architecture, and to the movements and position of the statuary, designed after nature, as was prescribed by the inventor of histories. “Et in his omnibus sensum matris Ecclesiæ sequimur, cujus etiam juditium reveremur.”
Such is the description, written by Arfe himself, of this wonderful masterpiece of silver-work. Unfortunately, since his time the custodia has been much meddled with by profane hands, and has been subjected to various impertinent “restorations” and “improvements.” Thus, the original statuette of Faith, seated on her throne, has been replaced by another of the Virgin, and the twelve child-angels, holding the instruments of the passion, by the same number of figures of a larger size and far inferior workmanship. Further, some simple pyramids which crowned the fourth order were foolishly replaced by badly executed statuettes of children, and the Egyptian obelisk, resting on four small spheres, which surmounted the whole custodia, by an unwieldy statue representing the Catholic Faith.
Description of the Custodia of Cordova Cathedral
(From Córdoba, by Pedro de Madrazo)
As I have stated in Vol. I., p. [98], the author of this custodia was Enrique de Arfe, Juan de Arfe's grandfather. “The base, supported on small wheels placed in the interior, is in the form of a regular dodecagon, each side of which measures a foot. On the twelve-sided plate which forms the base and which has well executed heads of seraphs at each corner, is an order consisting of three tiers. The first, which has projecting and receding angles, leaves, about six sides of the dodecagon, a free space for the handles by which the custodia is raised. The first tier forms a kind of socle with six buttresses, on the surface of which are represented allegorical scenes, alternated in rows with graceful designs in relief, grotesque and pastoral dances, and scenes from Bible history relative to the carriage of the Tabernacle. This tier is surmounted by a gilded balustrade of elegant design. The bas-reliefs are wrought alternately in gold and silver.
“The second tier is formed by a small socle, crowned by a band of leaves and diminutive figures. Over this is a gilded balustrade, and finally another and a broader frieze containing gilded figures, together with delicate foliage wrought in dull silver. This second tier grows gradually narrower, and sustains the third, whose base projects, serving as cornice to the frieze of the tier below, and decorated with a gilded balustrade. Upon it rises a mass or body with twelve sides, following the same arrangement of projecting and receding angles as the lower tiers. In each of its receding spaces this order contains three compartments, and in each of its salient faces it has a small tower or buttress, which springs from the base and rests upon a delicate plinth carved with a gilded ornamental band. Thus, the order we are describing has six salient faces behind the six towers or buttresses, and six spaces containing three open compartments. In these compartments, separated one from another by diminutive buttresses with delicate pinnacles, there is the same number of sunken spaces, one inch deep, on which are represented, in high relief, scenes of the life and passion of our Lord. The figures, admirably executed, are two inches high. Above this order is a projecting cornice, decorated along its lower part with a band of dull silver. It should be noted, that as the custodia narrows gradually as it rises, the receding spaces grow proportionally larger, thus affording room for the spacious inner order on which is raised the viril. This order is formed by a crystal cylinder (containing the host) resting on a base which is also cylindrical, the lower part of which is decorated with a broad hexagonal band, narrower at the top than at the bottom, and wrought with delicate foliage and figures, as are the bands which lie beneath it. Above the transparent cylinder enclosing the viril rises a Gothic vault, drooping over in the manner of a plume, and resting on the buttresses which fill the projecting spaces on the base of the principal order. These buttresses have a similar arrangement to, and coincide with, the other ones which spring from the base of the third tier of the first order, and are joined one to another by means of fine cross-buttresses surmounted by statuettes. The circular vault which holds the crystal cylinder containing the viril, and which resembles that of the rotunda dedicated as a sepulchral chapel by the emperor Constantine to the memory of his daughter, saint Constance, supports other and finer buttresses, alternated with those beneath; but instead of rising from the salient spaces of the base, these rise from the receding spaces and support another vault, of smooth open-work, beneath which is a graceful statuette of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Over this vault is a kind of open-work dome, consisting of an effective series of pinnacles and buttresses in the shape of segments of a circle, which bridge over the summits of the pinnacles. Upon the dome is a crown surmounted by a statuette of Christ triumphant, with the cross. The two vaults—that which encloses the viril, and the other one above it, enclosing the image of the Virgin—are masked on the outside by arches of elegant design, crowned by an elaborate balustrade. The turrets or buttresses which rise upon the lowest and the principal orders are decorated with numerous statuettes, resting on plinths of exquisite design, covered by open-work canopies.