In the fifteenth century there was an astonishing quantity of silversmiths’ work produced. This was owing to the discovery of America and the consequent power and wealth of Spain at this time. The silver throne of the King Don Martin de Aragon belongs to this period, which still exists in the Cathedral of Barcelona. It is covered with a chased ornamentation in the metal work, and has rich embroidered work of gold and precious stones. Many silversmiths came from Italy, Germany, Holland, and France at this period and settled in Spain owing to the great demand for their services. Riaño gives the names of Enrique de Arphe, Jacome Trezzo, Mateo Aleman, Hans Belta, and others who were employed at this time, besides many Spanish goldsmiths. [Illustration: Fig. 146.—Spanish Pax. (R.)] [Illustration: Fig. 147.—Spanish Jewel; Seventeenth Century. (R.)] A special feature of church furniture of this period in Spain was the _Monstrance_, or _Custodia_, an object of architectural design made in gold, silver, or bronze-gilt metals, which has a central part—the _lumule_ or _viril_—generally made of rock-crystal, in which the sacrament was exposed; sometimes a sun with rays is represented on the monstrance, and usually it is surmounted by a cross in gold and set with jewels (Fig. 144). The designs are in the Renaissance and sometimes in the Gothic style, and they are often eight feet in height. Some of them are carried in procession on Corpus Christi Days. Many works in gold and silver are in Spain that have been made in Mexico, but of Spanish design, in which forms of American flora and fauna are worked into the designs. A Spanish chalice of Gothic outlines with some Renaissance details is shown at Fig. 145. A beautiful pax of Renaissance design in the Kensington Museum is shown at Fig. 146. The pendant jewel of the seventeenth century shows the beginnings of the decadence in design (Fig. 147), and the silver dish (Fig. 148), though very rich in effect, is a pronounced step in the direction of unrestrained space-covering that characterizes the design of the late seventeenth century in Spain as well as in other European countries. [Illustration: Fig. 148.—Spanish Silver Dish; Seventeenth Century. (R.)] [Illustration: Fig. 149.—Moorish Lamp, Bronze; Fourteenth Century. (R.)] Bronze-casting was practised in Spain by the Moors as well as the Spanish themselves. The Moorish hanging lamp (Fig. 149) is a beautiful specimen of bronze-working in pierced open-work. It bears the date of the Hegira, 705 (A.D. 1305). Important works in bronze of the Renaissance period, such as candelabra, monstrances, &c., are still preserved in many of the churches.