Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/195

Rh PLATE 185 frontal, a work of the llth century, was carried off from this cathedral by the French in the present century. Another very large and beautiful piece of silver work is the throne, Northern Gothic in style, made for King Martin of Aragon, about 1400, and now preserved in Bar celona cathedral. Till after 1500 little that is distinctively Spanish appears in the style of their silver work. At first Moorish influence, and then that of France and Germany, appear to have been paramount. It is not till the IGth century that a really Spanish school of art was developed; and the discovery of America with its rich stores of gold and silver gave an enormous impetus to this class of work. 1 The custoclia,&quot; or tabernacle for the host, in many of the Spanish cathedrals, is a large and massive object, decorated in a very gorgeous though somewhat debased style. In spite of the plundering of the French, even now no country is so rich in ecclesiastical plate as Spain. England. The Celtic races of both England and Ireland appear to have possessed great wealth in gold and silver, but especially the former. It seems, however, to have been mostly used in the manufacture of personal orna ments, such as torques, fibula?, and the like. A magni ficent suit of gold armour, repousse^ with simple patterns of lines and dots, was found some years ago at Mold in Flintshire, and is now in the British Museum. 2 The amount of gold jewellery found in Ireland during the past century has been enormous ; but, owing to the unfortunate law of &quot; treasure- trove,&quot; by far the greater part was immediately melted down by the finders. Little of this period that can be called plate has been discovered in the British Isles, unlike Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, where the excavation of tombs has in many cases yielded rich results in the way of massive cups, bowls, ladles, and horns of solid gold, mostly decorated with simple designs of spirals, concentric circles, or inter laced grotesques. Others are of silver, parcel-gilt, and some have figure subjects in low relief (fig. 13). In like manner, during the Saxon period, though gold and silver jewellery was com mon, yet little plate appears to have been made, with the exception of shrines, altar-frontals, and vessels for ecclesiastical use, of which every important church in England must have possessed a magnifi cent stock. With regard to English secular plate, though but few early ex amples still exist, we know from various records, such FlG. i 3 ._siiv e r cup, 4j inches high, with as wills and inventories, embossed gold band ; itound in a grave ,, 1 . , in the cast of Seeland (Denmark). Tins that the 14th Century was cup dates from the earlier part of the one in which every rich lord Iron Age- or burgher prided himself on his fine and massive collection of silver vessels ; on festive occasions this was displayed, not only on the dinner-table, but also on sideboards, arranged with tiers of steps, one above the other, so as to show off to advantage the weighty silver vases, flagons, and dishes with which it was loaded. The central object on every rich man s table was the &quot; nef &quot; a large silver casket, usually (as the name suggests) in the form of a ship, and arranged to contain the host s napkin, goblet, spoon, and knife, with an assortment of spices and salt. Great sums were often spent on this large and elaborate piece of plate, e.f/., one made for the duke of Anjou in the 14th century weighed 348 marks of gold. The English silversmiths of this period were highly skilled in their art, and produced objects of great beauty both in design and workmanship. One of the finest specimens of late 14th century plate which still exists is a silver cup belonging to the mayor and corporation of King s Lynn. It is graceful and chalice-like in form, skilfully chased, and decorated in a very rich and elaborate way with coloured translucent enamels (fig. 14) of ladies and youths, several with hawks on their wrists. 3 Silver salt cellars were among the most ela borate pieces of plate produced 1 See Riano, Industrial Arts iii Spain, L orfevrerie en Espagne, 1879. 1879 : and Davillier, 2 Arch&uL, xx vi. 422. Fig. 14. Fig. 15. Fio. 14. Silver Cup, with translucent enamels. Probably French work of the- 14th century. Fio. 15. Silver-gilt Salt-cellar, 14 inches high. Given to Kew College, Oxford, in 1493. during the 15th century. Several colleges at Oxford and Cambridge still possess fine specimens of these (fig. 15) ; the favourite shape was a kind of hour-glass form richly ornamented with spiral fluting or bosses. But few existing specimens of English plate are older than the beginning of the 15th century. Among the few that remain the principal are two or three chalices such as the two large gold ones found in the coffin of an archbishop of York, now used for holy communion in the cathedral, and a fine silver chalice from the church of Berwick St James, Wilts, now in the British Museum. Both this and the York chalices are devoid of ornament, but, judging from their shape, appear to be of the 12th or 13th century. 4 It is interesting to note the various changes of form through which the ecclesiastical chalice passed from early Christian times till the 16th century. It was at first an ordinary secular cup (fig. 16, A), with two handles classical in form, and of large capacity, because the laity as well as the clergy received the wine. The double handles were of practical use in passing the cup round like a modern &quot; loving cup.&quot; The first alteration was the omission of the handles, so that it took the form B, with large hemi spherical bowl, a round foot, and a knopfor security in holding it. For some centuries it appears to have been the custom for the priest to hold the chalice, while the communicant sucked the wine through a silver tube or &quot; fistula. &quot; Some of the most magnificent 3 See Carter, Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, &amp;lt;L-c. , 1838. 4 Among the most important existing specimens are the solid gold chalice and paten preserved at Corpus Cliristi College, Oxford, the gift of the founder, Bishop Fox. These have the year-mark K for 1507-8. See Quart. Rci:, cxl. p. 353. XIX. --24